New In Town
by BoOk-NeRd38
Summary: Max moves into a new town and meets Drew, Angel, Ian, Nikki, Garik, and Jaz. They all have something in common, but none of them know it yet. They are "normal" kids in a "normal school", until they start being chased. A/U. T for safety.
1. New In Town

**Hey everybody! Hows it going? I just wanted to start a new story 'cuz I felt kinda naked with only one up. Anybody out there who hasn't read it yet, check out my other story Maximum Ride: Crossfire. Anyways, I'm pretty much just making this up as I go along, so tell me if it sucks or if I should continue it. ENJOY!:)**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride and I only own the plot and my own characters.**

I walked through the halls, looking straight ahead. I could feel the stares of people boring holes in my head, but I kept my face nonchalant and calm. The books in my hand weighed down my arms and made my back hurt. _Just two more halls until my classroom. I'm almost there, _I thought to myself. I saw some of the "cool" people stick their foot out to try to trip me, but I just sidestepped them. I walked up to the door and switched the books over to one arm so I could open the door. I stepped into the classroom and saw my new teacher, Ms. Maxwell. She had black hair and bright blue eyes, and she looked in her late twenties, early thirties. She was talking to another student that was leaning on her desk, probably closer than he should be. They both turned to look at me, and I could see confusion on the boys face. _Of course. I'm the new girl. Why wouldn't he stare at me? _I thought bitterly. I hadn't wanted to be here, but of course we had to move, and in the middle of my freshman year.

"Hello. I'm Ms. Maxwell. How can I help you? Are you new here?" Her voice was kind, but I could tell I had interrupted something.

"Um, yeah I am, I just moved here last week. I'm supposed to give this to you…" I handed her the yellow sheet with all of my information on it that the office had given me.

"Oh, thank you… Max. It's nice to meet you." She smiled up at me warmly. I grinned back a little. The other kid was still staring at me. He had black hair, and deep brown eyes. _He's pretty cute, actually,_ I thought, though I had never been one to say things like that… Something looked familiar about his eyes, but I couldn't put my finger on it. He was staring at me with confusion, like he thought I looked familiar too. I looked away; his gaze was too intense. "You can look around the school for a few minutes, or you can just stay here for a little bit until the bell rings. I'll have to catch you up on what we're learning in class, so you might need to stay after school for some tutoring. Maybe Drew, here, can help you." She motioned to the guy that was _still_ staring at me. He looked down when she said his name, and then nodded and looked at her.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do, Ms. Maxwell. I'll show you around after class, see if you need to go anywhere, where your classes are. That kind of stuff." He spoke to me kind of awkward, like he didn't know what to say. I nodded, and then the bell rang.

"Well, you can find any seat you want, Max, and I'll introduce you to the class when they all get in here." It was a dismissal, and I nodded and went to a seat in the middle of the room. Drew sat behind me, and the other kids started filing into the classroom and going to their seats.

"Well class, we have a new student today, her name is Max. Please help her around and make her feel welcome." I felt every eye in the classroom turn to stare at me, and I just kept looking at the teacher. She started talking about what they were learning and some of their homework, and then she started doing what teachers do best: teaching. She was a very interesting and sparky lady, but school just bored me to death. I almost fell asleep, when the bell shrilled. I jumped up and out of the classroom, only to get stuck on where to go. My shoulders slumped low.

"Need some help?" said a deep voice behind me. Drew. Though I hated to admit it, I was definitely lost. I sighed and turned around.

"Yeah, I do." He smirked at me, and I scowled back at him.

"What class?" he walked closer to me and reached out for my class list.

"I think it's-"

"Science lab. I have that one too. I'll take you there, come on." He motioned with his head towards one of the many halls, and I followed him like a lost puppy. Which, technically, I was. We passed too many doors to count, some of them empty and some of them had hoards of kids huddled in their desks. I felt the stares of every kid we passed in the halls boring into my head. It made me feel like a rose in a bed of daisies. I stared ahead, like I had so many times that day.

"Here we are, Max. Ladies first." He held the door open and it seemed like he was trying to be a gentleman, but his voice had an edge of mockery in it. He had a smug look on his face that I just wanted to slap right off.

"Well, then, go ahead." I said, keeping a straight face and looking him in the eye with an innocent look. His smug look turned into a scowl, and I smirked. He turned and walked through the door, trying to look manly. I cracked up and followed him in.

This teacher was Mr. Marx, and he was a big man with a balding head. He wasn't very lively, and I almost fell asleep in class. The bell rang, and the same thing happened with my history class, except Drew wasn't there. He had dropped me off and ran to his other class. Even though I had just met him, I was sort of disappointed when he left. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, and there was something familiar about him.

I went through the rest of the day like the beginning, slow and boring. Nobody really noticed me, except for some guys who kept staring a little below my neck. I almost fell asleep in a few more classes, but some of my teachers were really interesting and fun.

After school, I walked down the halls like I knew where I was going. I was trying to get outside, but the school was like a labyrinth. Every hall I went down looked like the one I was just in! After about ten minutes, I thought I felt somebody watching me. I casually stopped and looked around, but I couldn't see anybody. Then I heard a foot shuffle behind me, and I spun on my heel, ready to punch somebody in the face.

"Um, hi." A little girl stepped out from behind the corner, staring at her feet, and I recognized her from some of my classes. She had long blonde curly hair, and bright blue eyes. She looked about my age, maybe younger. I relaxed and crossed the hall towards her.

"Hey. Who are you?" I tried to keep my tone kind, but it came out with an edge of steel.

"I-I'm Angel. I thought you were new and so I wanted to see who you were but I was too nervous to say anything so I just followed you an-" she was speaking fast and nervously, like she was scared of me.

"It's okay. I am new, and I was trying to find my way out of here. I'm Max, by the way." I stuck out my hand for her to shake, and she finally looked up at me and smiled big.

She shook my hand and said, "I can show you around here if you need me to, Max." she took my hand and led me down one of the halls. "I'm a freshman, what grade are you in?"

"Freshman, too. I saw you in a few of my classes today…" we talked all the way outside to see hoards of kids in groups, and I saw Drew leaning against the wall outside with one foot against the old bricks. I stared at him, eyes wide, and Angel noticed him and smirked at me.

"So, have you met Drew yet? He's pretty cute, huh?" she wiggled her eyebrows a little, and it made me let out a girly giggle which was so unlike me. Drew heard it and looked over at me, and I thought I saw his eyes light up. I had no idea what he was thinking, but I didn't think it was good. he kicked off the wall and started walking, and Angel started giggling like mad. "I think he might like you! He never gets up off the wall for anybody!" she whispered, and then kept on giggling.

"Hey, Max." Drew said, which made Angel burst into more giggles. He looked at her weird, and I started giggling too. I stopped, and Drew figured out that he was missing something. "Are you guys okay? You seem a little out of it, Ange." She was still giggling, and she finally stopped enough to talk.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Drew. Just an inside joke…" and with that, she burst out full on laughing. Drew just shook his head and looked towards the parking lot.

"Well, I think somebody might be waiting for you, Max." he was looking at a car in the parking lot, and when I looked over I saw what he meant. My mom was waiting in the parking lot with my little sister, Ella, who held a sign hanging out of her window.

_Maximum Ride Martinez!! _It read, _We're here to pick you up! Come over here!_

I groaned loudly. "They just couldn't resist, could they? They _had_ to come embarrass me…" Angel looked sympathetic, and Drew was smiling a little. "Well, I guess I have to go now. I'll see you tomorrow, Angel. And you too, Drew. Bye guys." I turned and ran to the car, trying to get that sign down as fast as I could. I could faintly hear Drew and Angel say bye.

As soon as I reached the car, I flung open the door and told my sister to take down the sign. She was laughing at my red face, and I hit her shoulder.

"Okay, girls, don't fight. Max, how was your day?" my mom asked.

"Fine." I answered, not wanting to go into detail. My mom sighed, because she could never get much out of me about my school. "Let's just go home."

**Sooo… yes or no? keep or throw? What should I do with it? Any ideas or suggestions? Anything?**

**REVIEW PLEASE!!! THEY ARE MUCH LOVED!!!!:)**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	2. Memories

**Chapter 2 of New In Town!!:) so, I'm still making this up as I go along, so tell me if I need to add more or change anything. ENJOY!!:)**

**Disclaimer: James Patterson owns Maximum Ride, I only own the plot and the characters I make up.**

As soon as I got home, I went to my room. I got out the small amount o f homework I had, mostly just papers I needed to fill out. After I was done with those, I started reading my book, Maximum Ride. It was amazing. It was about a girl, named Max. Like me! And Fang, and Gasman, and Iggy, Angel, and Nudge. They were so different from everybody else, and I felt like I could relate to them. Outcasts, loners, hunted, but still had family and love. Though they were hunted and tortured, it wasn't like they were really missing out on anything. They had each other, and they were completely free from parents and rules. I envied them. I kept reading about Max and Fang, and how they obviously loved each other but they wouldn't admit it. It was an intriguing story. Ari, Jeb, the Director… I was addicted to the book. I read about 20 chapters, then went down for dinner.

We had a "normal" family dinner, me, my sister, and my mom. Mashed potatoes, chicken, broccoli, that kind of stuff. It was pretty silent at the table, for me at least. Ella was talking her head off, all about the cute boys, the mean girls, the cool teachers, the grumpy ones, everything that comes with a first day at school. I just ate in my silence, and thought about Drew and Angel. At least I would have somebody else to talk to tomorrow. Maybe I could even make a new friend… or not.

"I'm done. Night." I pushed my chair back and brought my plate to the sink, then put it in the dishwasher.

"Max, you're done already? Well, that was fast. Okay, so, well, um, goodnight, sweetie I'll see you in the morning…" I could barely hear her, because I was already up the stairs and headed towards my room. I shut my door and got back to my book, forgetting about my friends and life that I had left behind.

I had lived in Oregon for my entire life, and moving to California was so crazy. Oregon: cold, snowy, windy, rainy, and sometimes sunny. California: sunny. That's it. Beaches, bikinis, surfing… but I wasn't as happy as I should have been. I missed my friends, my house, my life. And now, I was here. New everything. And let me tell you, I wasn't too happy about that. But, for my first day I was doing ok… so far. Some of my best friends weren't trying to keep in touch with me, and some of the boys were trying to get _in_ touch with me. I wouldn't get a Facebook (™) or a MySpace (™). They creeped me out, and I never would have the time to update them. I was emailing most of my good friends, but my best friend ever wouldn't even talk to me. She was apparently mad because I moved, even though I had no choice. My dad had died, and that was why we had moved in the first place. You would think that best friends would support you in a time like that, but not Layne. Nope. She just told me to suck it up and move on. I didn't know why I called her my best friend if she was always telling me to get over myself… but now she wasn't even talking to me. I had emailed, called, and texted her over a million times, at least, but no response. I just sat on my bed, reading my books. I had read at least 10 in the week we had been in Sacramento, each about 300 pages. My reading scores were probably going to go up about 3 grades. The reason I went to books was because they were like a safe haven for me. They brought me to a world where I didn't have to deal with my problems, but mostly just somebody else's. I could lose myself in something that I didn't have to deal with, but I could learn from their mistakes for the future. What not to do. My life was turning upside down, and I didn't want to deal with it.

**Okay, well, it's not very good. And it's really short. But I couldn't think of anything else to talk about, and I felt like putting in some of my own POV on stuff. Like the books, and the Maximum Ride. :P How did everyone like that little book part on Maximum Ride? I couldn't help but put that in there. Review and tell me how you like it! I love reviews!! :D**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	3. New Friends

**Well, this is not my favorite chapter, its mostly just a filler. Anyways, review at the bottom and give me feedback!!!:) ENJOY!!!!!!!!!**

School the next day wasn't much better. I walked in, tired and wanting nothing more than to just collapse on a bed and sleep for the next two days. I walked to class and spotted Drew on the way.

"Hey Max." he spotted me too and started walking with me. I grunted in response, and he gave me a look. I shrugged.

"I'm tired, okay? Don't get me in a bad mood." I snapped. He held up his hands as a truce.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Just wondering." We walked to class in silence after that, him not wanting to aggravate me and me not wanting to get aggravated. I shuffled down the hallway to the door I thought was my classroom, but Drew just started laughing when I reached for the handle. I whipped around and glared at him, and he just shook his head.

"The classroom is two doors down, Max. That's Mr. Howard's classroom. Come on." He motioned his head down the hall, and I scowled but followed him anyways.

As he walked into the door two down the hall from the one I was just at, I saw Ms. Maxwell sitting at her desk and grading some papers with a few students mulling around her classroom, chatting. She looked up when we entered and smiled at me and Drew. I managed to smile back a bit, and Drew just nodded at her. She went back to grading. Drew waltzed on over to the group chatting in the middle of the room, and I followed hesitantly. There was a darker girl, a tall boy with strawberry blonde hair, a boy with blonde hair which reminded me of Angel, and a girl with dark brown hair. They all greeted Drew with high fives or a nod, and they all looked at me curiously.

"This is Max. She's new. Max, meet Nikki, Ian, Gerik, and Jaz." He nodded at each of them as he said their names, and they all smiled or nodded at me. Mostly, the boys smiled and the girls nodded. I nodded and sort-of smiled back.

"Hi Max! I'm Nikki, obviously, and I really hope you feel welcome here! This is a great place, and I love it, so I hope you love it too! Some of my friends don't like it here, but I think they're crazy, 'cuz this place is just so awesome you know? Anyways, maybe we can hang out sometimes or something. Like with all of us! We could, like, have a party! That would be so awesome, you know? Like amazingly awesome! We could have like a D.J. and punch and get all dressed up and _everything_! Man, that would be so-"

"Nikki!" Everybody, even me, yelled. She was breathing hard, I think she only took two breaths to say that entire monologue.

"Umm… sorry about her. She kind of gets to talking sometimes and she won't stop. Just try to tune it out, because she can change the subject from homework to nail polish." Said Jaz. I laughed, and so did everyone else except for Drew, who was smirking and Nikki, who was scowling.

"Humph." Nikki pouted, which made Ian laugh. I looked at Drew, and found that he was looking at me too. Our gazes locked, and some message passed between us. Like some old memory that I couldn't remember… I shivered and looked down.

"Hey, so, uh Max, where'd you move from?" Gerik, the one who looked like Angel, asked.

"Oregon." Just saying it brought back so many memories. They all looked at me with curiosity, and I shrugged.

"From what town?" asked Jaz.

"Bend. Around that area." I tried my best not to think of my friends that I left. I was talking with them for about ten minutes about where I lived, and how I got here, and some of my life, which isn't every interesting. They told me some of the same things, and then we had to sit down for class. I got to know them pretty well that day, and I figured out that most of them were in my classes. I had made even more friends, and I hung out with Angel a little bit. Gerik told me that Angel was his sister, and that cleared up some stuff for me. Ella was still in middle school, so nobody here knew her. At least not yet.

When my classes were over, I walked out with Angel and Gerik. As soon as I walked out the doors, I could feel someone's eyes watching me. I looked around, trying to act normal, when Angel giggled again. I had gotten used to that little giggle, since it was used so often around me.

"He's over there, Max." she pointed to the left, and giggled again. Of course, Drew was sitting over on the ledge, alone, and staring at me. When he saw me look at him, the corner of his mouth went up a little. "Go over there already! Don't keep him waiting!" she giggled, yet again, and pushed me in the direction of the boy dressed in all black and waiting alone on a window sill.

"Okay, well, I'll see you guys later then." I shook my head. Was she trying to make me into a Barbie doll? Her giggle-y-ness was starting to get to my head.

"Hey, Drew." I said when I got close enough.

"Hey Max. how was school for you?" he scooted over a bit to make room for me. I sat down.

"Well, okay. It was fine. It was _school_. How would you expect it would go?" I did a sort of breath and laugh thing that made a "Huh" sound.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. Hey, um, do you want to hang out or something later…?" he said so quietly that I almost didn't hear. I was shocked, to say the least. I did the laugh/breath thing again, and he looked at the ground, like he thought that was a no.

"Well… I think that would be pretty cool… why don't we go over to my house later? I bet my mom wouldn't mind, and my sister would definitely be cool with it… think that's cool with your parents?"

He looked up at me, and I was surprised to see hope and happiness in his eyes. He smiled, and then remembered his nonchalant expression. He cleared his throat.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be pretty cool. Um, I'll go over to your house and just hang for a while. Yeah, that would be pretty cool, Max." I could tell he was trying to keep the emotion out of his voice, but he was failing.

"Okay, so let's get on the bus now. My mom got me a spot on bus #541. Let's go." I smiled at him, and we jumped up to get on the bus before it left. This was going to be interesting…

**Okay, not my favorite chap, but it'll do right? REVIEW AND TELL ME HOW YOU LIKE IT!!!!:)**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	4. Feelings

**Heyo! Alright, so, I'm finally updating. Sorry for the delay, people. I just had some last-minute work due for school. And I'm really trying to move this story along faster cuz I have a part already typed up that I REALLY want to get to, but it's pretty far down the road. So, if it seems a little too rushed, just let me know. Anyways, ENJOY!:)**

**Disclaimer: JP owns Maximum Ride and all the characters, and I only own the plot and my characters. Though I wish I did own Max and the gang…**

I walked into the house, Drew on my heels. My mom heard the door close and appeared around the corner from the kitchen.

"Hey Max. How was…" she drifted off when she saw Drew and looked at me with a glance that said "who is this guy and what has he been doing with you?"

"Mom, this is Drew. Drew, mom. He's a _friend_ from school, and I thought it would be cool if he hung out here for a while." I explained, putting special emphasis on the word friend. Mom's expression relaxed a little and she nodded at Drew.

"Hello, Drew, nice to meet you. You're welcome to stay here for a while and hang out with Max. I need to go fix some dinner, so excuse me." She said, feeling the awkward tension in the air. After she had given me a look that said "don't do something stupid", she left the room.

"Well. She seems nice." Drew said after a minute of awkward silence. I chuckled a little.

"You could say that. Come on. I'll show you the house." I ushered him in to the rest of the house, trying to get away from that awkward feeling. I showed him the library, which only had about 10 books so far; the living room, which only had a TV and a couch, and the other rooms which had almost nothing in them and we hadn't really decided what they were going to be. Finally, I got to my room.

It was very bland and plain, but I was planning on spicing it up. It only had a bed in the corner with a simple black and white bedspread on it, some posters of various artists on the walls, and a little window seat by the old-fashioned four pane window that looked out over our yard. I was planning on painting it all red and white, my two favorite colors. I wasn't sure what else I was going to do to make it mine, but I would know when it was finished.

Fang went over to sit on my bed, and I followed him. We didn't talk for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes. We both just laid there staring at the ceiling, thinking. I so wished I could read his thoughts then.

"Have you ever felt like… you don't belong? That you are a different person and you're just waiting to bust out, but you have no idea who that person is?" he asked quietly. I turned my head to look at him, only to find him looking at me already.

"Yea, all the time. How'd you know?" I had always felt like that, like I wasn't supposed to be me but someone else.

"I didn't. I just… I feel like I'm… connected to you, somehow. Like we belong somewhere else, and we're a part of something bigger than this. Than this life we live." He seemed completely serious, and to tell the truth I believed him. I felt like I was going to change something, something bigger than myself and my family.

"Drew, that is exactly how I feel. That we aren't who we say we are, or who we look like we are. And… and maybe we aren't. Maybe we were adopted by some aliens and sent to earth to destroy it, or something. Just to be something other than normal, than what everybody else is." It seemed like we were growing closer as we talked about feeling like we were different people. We talked about that for a while, until somehow we got on the subject of French fries. I have no idea how, we just randomly were talking about French fries. I have no clue how, but we were talking about which ones were better: crunchy, soft, curvy, strait, warm or cold.

"No way. The crunchy ones are _so_ much better!" I defended. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Uh-uh. No way. Soft ones are the _best_!" he said. I shook my head at him.

"Crunchy."

"Soft."

"Crunchy."

"Soft."

"Crunchy!"

"Soft!"

"Soft."

"Crunchy."

"Ha! You so fell for it!" I exclaimed, and he realized what he had done. He mock-glared at me as I cracked up.

"You tricked me! Cheater!" He pouted.

"Since when were there rules?" I managed to get out between giggles. He just stuck his tongue out at me, which only made me laugh harder. Soon, even he was cracking a smile. Just a small one though.

He leaned in really close to me, our faces were almost touching, and our breath mingled. I stopped laughing, and stared into his entrancing black eyes. I couldn't help glancing down at his lips, which looked so soft and warm. He was getting closer, still, and my eyes were starting to close involuntarily. His arm was slowly snaking around my waist, making sure I wasn't going to run away. _Is he finally going to kiss me? Because I would really like him to… _I numbly thought, surprising myself. But I had no time to react to it, since I could feel his breath getting stronger and stronger on my chin, which only meant he was closer and closer. I felt his lip brush mine, and fire ignited in that small area that made me hiss in a breath. Then his lips disappeared, and reappeared at my ear.

"Sucker." He whispered, adding a little cackle, and my eyes flung open. He had tricked me! Made me believe he was going to kiss me and then didn't! I growled low, deep in my chest, at him and at myself for wanting to kiss him after knowing him two days. He stopped laughing. He pulled back, a triumphant smile on his face. I shoved against his chest, which was still close to mine, and he started laughing again.

"Shut up, Drew!" I said, but I couldn't keep the anger in it. I felt a little smile creep onto the corner of my lips, and looked away. I felt awkward being so close to this boy I had known for so little time, and I just wanted to get out of here. After that, my heart was racing hard, and now I was exhausted. I rolled away, out of his arms, and off the bed. He sat up and watched me go over to my little window seat and sit down. I looked at him with the same expression: none. But inside my head was a whirlwind, with thoughts and feelings twisting and spinning each other. Why had he chosen this form of victory? Why couldn't he have won some other way instead of making me go insane of almost kissing him? To be honest, I really had wanted to. The way his eyes held mine, and his arm curled around my waist, felt so protective that I knew nothing would happen to me as long as I was there. It was embarrassing to be thinking all of this only after two days with the guy. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and looked at the clock. 6:53.

"Max! Want any dinner? It's getting cold!" my mom yelled upstairs. Perfect timing.

"Want dinner, Drew?" I asked, and he nodded and stood up, with his nonchalant expression still in place. We walked downstairs silently and as we walked into the kitchen I saw my sister at the table, and her eyebrows flew up. She met my eyes with a look that clearly said: a _boy_? Oooh… getting lucky. I just rolled my eyes and shook my head. Dinner was simple: salad and chicken with broccoli. Normal.

Ella kept suggesting things, and I could tell Drew was a little uncomfortable with it. She was trying to be subtle about it, but she was failing at that. Even my mom was starting to suspect something. I dropped my head into my arms and groaned silently. I had to get Drew out of here before they killed him of embarrassment.

"Drew, don't you think you're supposed to be getting home by now?" I said, desperate to get him out of here. I could just barely see the faint tint of pink in his cheeks. He was blushing! I hadn't known him for long, but I could tell he wasn't one to blush often.

"Yeah, I think my parents will be wondering where I am. I should probably get home." He said quickly, sending me a look of relief. I smirked at him.

"So soon?" Ella asked, obviously disappointed. Well, he was cute. I couldn't blame her for wanting him to stay, but she was just too embarrassing. He nodded and we got up to walk outside.

"I live just a few blocks away. I can walk. It's nice outside anyways." He suggested. I shrugged and poked my head in the kitchen to tell my mom, and then we started walking briskly in the direction he pointed. The air was cold, and I could see my breath swirling in front of my face. This was "nice"? It was silent for the first block and a half, until he disrupted it.

"I'm sorry, about earlier… with the whole… uh…" he didn't seem like he wanted to mention it, but I knew he was talking about when he almost kissed me.

"Uh, its fine. Its not like it meant anything. Just a game." I said, trying to convince myself it was true, it was just a game. "I mean, I pretty much did the same thing to you…" we both knew that wasn't true, but he didn't say anything. Almost-kissing was _not _the same as tricking him into saying something. After that he fell silent.

We were almost to his house when he turned to me.

"I had fun, Max. Thanks for letting me come over today." He said, and he sounded sincere,

"You're welcome. I had fun too. Maybe we can do it again… soon." I suggested, and he smiled, which made me smile back. In front of his little house, now, he surprised me by leaning down to kiss me on the cheek. The skin tingled and left an imprint on my cheek of exactly where his lips were. He smirked at me, seeing my shocked expression, and turned to the door.

"See you tomorrow." He called back over his shoulder, shutting the door before I could process it.

"See you tomorrow…" I whispered a minute later, finally understanding what had happened. I smiled to myself and turned away from the house, beginning to walk back. My toes were crunched in my shoes, freezing, and the silent night made my footsteps sound loud, but I didn't notice. My mind was too caught up in what the "kisses" meant. Did he like me? More than a friend? Did I like him? Would he ever date me? And the most important question to me: Why was I feeling like this?

These questions swirled around my mind, until a snapping branch to my left brought me back to reality. I looked around frantically, but there was nothing. I quickened my pace and suddenly felt like I was being watched. And followed. I started jogging, then faster and faster until I was sprinting.

By the time I got home, I was breathing hard and fast, my chest heaving. I ran up to my room and pulled my blinds closed as fast as I could. But not fast enough, since a second before the blinds were shut I saw a shadow zip across my lawn and duck behind a bush.

**Alright! So, like it or don't like it? PLEASE REVIEW!!!I APPRECIATE THEM SO MUCH!! And I have noticed I have more hits than reviews, so the people out there who aren't reviewing when they read this, PLEASE DO! ANONYMOUS REVIEWS WELCOME!! ANYTHING!! Constructive criticism, praise, any type of review!! PLEASE!:)**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	5. Dreams

**Hey everybody! How's it going? How is everybody feeling? Just checking in.:) Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. I'm just going off of things that pop into my head, as usual, so tell me if I should change anything or any ideas you might have. And this is just a filler chapter, so it'll be really short.**

**ENJOY, PLEASE!**

"Gah!" I sputtered, bolting straight up in bed. My dream was gone before I could remember anything of it. All I could remember was that it was cold, dark, and damp. I shuddered, falling back onto my bed. My forehead had a sheet of sweat on it, and so did the rest of my body. I looked at my clock. 3:24. I sighed and swung my feet out of the lump of sheets that had once been my neatly-made bed. My tank top and shorts were old and worn and fitted to my body, so they were the most comfortable to sleep in. But now they just felt sticky and itchy, so I changed into other clothes. It was a Friday yesterday, the day after Drew came over, so I didn't have to worry about school in the morning.

I went into the hall and to the bathroom that Ella and I shared, turning on the light. I blinked and shut my eyes, since the light was too bright. After they had adjusted I inspected myself in the mirror. My eyes were droopy and red, and I had a weird spot on my neck. It was red and a little swollen, and the shape was disfigured into some sort of a pear-looking thing. It was bumpy to the touch, and it felt a little overheated. There was another one on the other side of my neck, and I decided I would ask mom in the morning.

I was still feeling a little drained from my dream, so I grabbed a washcloth from the drawer and washed my face with warm water. My heart was racing for some reason, but I didn't know why. Suddenly my back was hurting, and the rest of my body aching and sweating more. I ran cold water over the washcloth and put it over my face and the parts of my body I could reach. I did that a few times, then returned to my bed.

But I couldn't fall asleep. Some picture kept flashing on the backs of my eyelids, but it would disappear before I could recognize it though. I did see a glimpse of one picture though: 7 kids standing in the woods by a tall tree, with some wolf-ish type animals standing across from them with their teeth bared. Suddenly, the kids jumped up and spread out wings and took off flying. Then it went black.

That vision in particular set me on edge. I could feel my blood pumping through my veins and myself becoming overheated and sore again. I got up and sat on my window seat, staring into the pitch-black night. I saw the white of a bird's wing as it flew from one tree to another. I saw a squirrel scatter up a tree and perch on a branch, eating something. The bushes and the trees rustled and swayed with the wind, and I couldn't help thinking of the other night when I felt like I was being chased and saw the bushes move. I was convinced someone was stalking me, for some reason or another, but I had no idea what those reasons were. Who would want anything to do with me? And why? I wasn't anything special. I had no talents or special properties about me. I was just… Max. Nothing more and nothing less.

I sighed. If anybody was after me, it was for some completely unknown reason. To me, at least. If it was some serial killer, or something like that, I just hoped they would leave my family alone. They shouldn't have to suffer on my behalf. And Drew, for that matter, too. Even though I had only known him for a matter of days, he felt like family already. Perhaps even more. I was still completely confused about why he had almost kissed me when he was over. He had barely spoken to me on Friday afterwards, but maybe that was because he had some test he had to finish. I apparently got out of it, since I was so new. But he kept sending me these looks, when he was in class, and I couldn't interpret them. It seemed like maybe… longing? Hope? I couldn't understand them. And as soon as I would look, he would put his emotionless mask back on. He was really starting to make me go insane.

I sat there on my window seat, thinking about serial killers, stalkers, and Drew for about as long as I could. And finally, I fell asleep.

**So…do you like it? As I said, this is just a filler chapter, so its short. The next one will be on Monday back at school, and I have something special planned…:D Hehehe… you'll just have to wait and see!! I'll update as soon as I can. Until then, REVIEW!!! And any ideas you have, please feel free to tell me.:)**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	6. Changes

**Hey! I don't have school today, since it's like -10 degrees outside, so I'm updating!!:) I'll update both my stories, so read them PLEASE!! :) And this is Monday 3 weeks later, FYI. Hope you like it!**

**Oh, and, as a lot of you have asked, they will get wings in this story. Soon.**

**Disclaimer: if I was a 60-year-old(or however old he is) man named James Patterson, I would tell you. But I'm not, so this isn't mine.**

I walked in the doors of the school, late. It was around 11, and school started at 8. My alarm hadn't gone off in time, so I missed the bus and had to wait for my mom to get a break from work to drive me.

Over the past 3 weeks, life had been getting a little better. Drew and I were even closer, and I was so close to everybody else that it felt like they were my real family. I loved hanging around them; we could have fun anywhere we went, no matter what. I seriously felt that they were even closer to me than I was with my mom and sister. Drew felt like the protective older brother, even though I was older than him. And sometimes, when he gave me that special little smile, my heart flip-flopped. I ignored it, since he was my best friend, nothing more. But it was happening more often now. And he was giving me those smiles and looks more, too.

I shook my head to clear those thoughts as I walked down the hall towards my class. I was supposed to be in History right now, a class I didn't have with Drew. But I had it with Gerik and Angel.

I opened the door tentatively, peeking my head in.

"And that was the medieval era's way of- why hello, Max. How nice of you to join us." My teacher said. I nodded and caught a glimpse of Angel and Gerik, sitting side by side, and they both smiled and waved a little. I smiled back. They were the sweetest kids ever, minus Gerik's uncanny way of getting in trouble and blowing things up with the bombs him and Ian made.

I sat down by Angel and tried not to fall asleep as the teacher droned on and on about medieval crap. Finally, the bell rang. I grabbed my bag and stood up to walk out the door.

"Max! Why were you late?" Angel asked, falling into step beside me with Gerik on her other side.

"Missed the bus. Had to wait for my mom to get a break." I explained.

"Ah. I get it. Hey, Drew told me to tell you to meet him. He said he had to tell you something." Angel said. "No idea what it is though. He said to meet-"

"Max! Hey!" I heard behind me. I swiveled my head, and there he was. I smiled and waved.

"Never mind, then. I guess he found you." Angel giggled.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll catch you later." I told her, giggling a little myself.

"See ya!" she said, winking, then ran down the hall to catch up with another one of her friends.

"Hey, Drew." I said as he walked up to me. He smiled, and completely surprised me by pulling me into a hug. My eyes went wide and it took me a minute to remember that I should hug him back. I lamely put my hands on the small of his back just as he was letting go.

"I need to talk to you." He said as he grabbed my hand and started dragging me down to a hallway I had never seen before.

"Are you okay? What's happening? Drew?" I asked, and kept asking as he led me down halls after halls and up stairs, then through more halls. The old hallways were obviously unused, since they had dust everywhere and smelled like mold. He wasn't answering me though, and I kept asking him. Finally, I just stopped and wouldn't budge. "Answer me! Where are we _going_?" he turned around and looked me in the eyes.

"I need to talk to you. In private. And I have the perfect place to go." He told me, then turned back around and kept on dragging me. I let him this time.

He led me up one more flight of stairs then through another door, and a cold wind hit me in the face. I breathed it in; it was a relief from the musty old hallways. We were on a roof. But Drew still didn't stop. He led me around the corners of the building, and I saw that it was an extension in the back of the school. I had never noticed it before. The school was about 5 stories tall, so the roof was pretty high up.

"Drew… what is this place? How did you find it?" I questioned, fixated with the view from here. He brought me over to the far right corner, where I saw a sort of green house building. It had all glass around it that looked fogged a little, but I couldn't see anything inside.

"This, Max, is a roof. And this," he said sarcastically, then pointed to the glass house, "is our destination. A friend showed it to me a few years ago. I come up here every once in a while. Its… calming." He told me, staring at the little house.

"Yeah. Its peaceful up here." I agreed.

"Come on in." he gestured inside, and I followed him in. It was warmer inside, and smelled of soil and old plants, even a little mold. There was soil and a few wilted plants scattered around the floor. It was quiet and peaceful, besides the smell. There was a view of the rest of the school and a small lake far away from the building. A great place to think, or talk.

"This is amazing. So… peaceful…" I whispered.

"Yeah. It is. Max, I need to tell you something." he said, looking at his shoes.

"Shoot." He looked up, then looked me in the eyes.

"I-I-I… uh…" he seemed at a loss for words. My brow furrowed. He cleared his throat. "Do you remember how you told me that someone was following you, a few weeks ago?" I could tell he was going to say something else, but I let it go.

"Yeah. Of course I remember. Why?"

"Because. I was followed too. Last night, I went out for a run, and I felt him behind me. I got back home as soon as I could, and I saw the bushes move when I got home. I have a bad feeling that this means something. Jaz said she felt like someone was following her, too." he told me. My eyes were wide, and my mouth was open a little.

"No way. This is… crazy. What would anybody want with us? Its not like were special… not like we have something they want…" I whispered, stunned.

"No, I don't think we have anything they want. I have no idea, Max, but I don't think they're trying to sell us girl scout cookies." He said, and I giggled. He smiled, that special smile, and I blushed. Wait… why am I blushing? Its not like he likes me, or the other way around. He's my best friend, not my boyfriend. I shook my head. "But, that's not the real reason I brought you up here. I need to tell you something… or show you, actually." He whispered, staring at his feet like they were the source of all his problems.

"Drew? What do you need to…?" I trailed off as he stared into my eyes with an intensity I couldn't measure. "Um…" I backed up a few steps, staring into his entrancing gaze. He took a few steps toward me as I stopped, and his hand found my waist. For the second time, he was getting really close. I could feel his breath on my cheeks, and I noticed him glancing at my lips. "What are… you doing… Drew?" I breathed. I didn't really want to kiss him, since I didn't want things to be awkward between us at all. I liked things the way they were, and now he had to do this. I backed up even more until my butt hit the wall. It was cold and frosty, and I was starting to see my breath in front of my face mingling with his. "Drew…?" I breathed again, and I couldn't help glancing at his lips that were so close to mine. His nose bumped against mine, and I could feel the warmth emanating off him. His hand was still on my waist, and that area was on fire. Both of his hands moved towards my lower back, pulling me closer to him. His eyes moved from my lips to my eyes, and I was hooked. I forgot everything I was thinking about, how I didn't want to kiss him for fear of it being awkward between us, and everything except for how much I _did_ want to kiss him. My brain shorted out, and I acted on instinct. I closed my eyes and leaned forward, and his lips met mine.

I swear I saw fireworks. My lips were on fire, and soon so was the rest of my body. It felt so good, since the air was freezing. Drew pressed me against the wall, and our lips moved in sync. I don't know how long we stood there, kissing, but soon I had to break for air. I kept my eyes closed, relishing in the feeling coursing through me.

"Max…" Drew breathed. My eyes opened slowly, meeting his dark chocolate ones. Suddenly, the nerves in my brain connected and I gasped. I kissed him. I kissed Drew! That was the one thing I planned _not_ to do! It never ended well. And if I broke up with him or it went wrong, we wouldn't be friends again. And that was the one thing I wouldn't be able to handle. I couldn't lose him.

"I-I-I can't…" I whispered, pulling out of his grip and backing away towards the door. "N-no. No." I turned and ran out of the greenhouse, not daring to look back. I could tell I hurt and confused him; I could see it in his eyes. Before he could say anything I was running through the halls again, down the stairs, and trying to remember which way Drew had brought me. I heard him yelling my name a few times, but I just turned down another hall and hid from him.

The addition was like a labyrinth. Every hall looked the same, so I went deeper and deeper into the heart of the school. I didn't really want to get back to class, so I just spent the rest of the day trying to find my way out of the building.

By the time I finally did get home, it was around 5. I had to walk home since the buses were gone, and I didn't want to call anybody. My mom was freaking out when I walked through the door, saying the school called and they had no idea where I was. I spent the rest of the night cooped up in my room, staring out the window at nothing in particular. Finally, I fell asleep.

**Alright!! Sorry if it seems a little weird, I didn't know how to word some things. REVIEW!!! I LOVE THEM BEARY VERY MUCH!!;D**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	7. Wings

**So, most of you have asked "Do they have wings?" well… I think this should answer your question. Ha-ha ENJOY!!:)**

I was peacefully sleeping, dreaming about random things like bunnies and rainbows. So unlike me, I know. Suddenly, there was an extreme pain on my spine. I lurched up in bed, my back twisting and making me writhe.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!" I screamed. My back arched upwards, and I could feel some sweat starting to bead on my forehead. I screamed again, louder this time. I rolled over and tried to get comfortable and try to make the pain less. It was just below my shoulders down to my lower back. It felt like two strips of pain were down my spine, and kept flowing in waves all around. Now the pain was spreading to my whole body, and it felt like part of me was disintegrating, disappearing. I felt lighter, and I tried to get up and move around. My lungs felt like they were stretching and separating, and the pain was so horrible I wanted to die. I screamed, louder and louder each time. My back was arching and falling, twisting and writhing. I felt the sweat all over my body now, and I couldn't tell what were tears and what was sweat on my face. I was trying to breath, but it was harder than it should have been. I was falling apart, but I had no idea why.

I screamed yet again, and soon the pain started to ebb a little bit. But not on my back. I felt like something was growing behind me, but that couldn't be possible. It wasn't like I was a genetic mutation or something… I was breathing hard, hyperventilating almost. I rolled around on my bed, trying to get in a comfortable position to lay in, and I settled for my side. I was crying hard, it was so painful. It felt like days, but soon my back was better. It felt lumpy and unbalanced, and there was definitely something new on my back, and about my whole body. I felt lighter, and my breathing felt weird, like there was air in my stomach. I tried to stand up, but it took me a while. My head was spinning, and I was about to throw up. I ran to my bathroom, slowly and carefully, but when I leaned over the toilet I felt better and not like I was going to throw up. I stood up and turned on the bathroom light.

After my eyes adjusted, I washed my face with cold water to wake me up a little to check out my back. But as soon as I turned around, I screamed. There, on my back, huge and freaky, was a pair of wings. They were folded into my back, neatly. I couldn't breathe. I thought about trying to extend them, and tried to move the muscles that would move them. They were muscles I had never used, and they were extremely sore. I moaned in pain, but kept extending them until there was no more space to fill in the small room.

They were beautiful. They were dark brown on top, then lighter as they got lower and white on the bottom, with some dark specs splattered randomly around. I gasped. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, let alone feeling. I looked over my shoulder, and moved my wing around my body so that I could touch it. It felt soft, like down. I could feel my hand moving up and down my wing, and roots of the feathers were sore.

My wings. I couldn't make any sense of it. I took a deep breath, trying to comprehend it. I turned all the way around, looking at my back the best I could. I could see the redness everywhere, and it looked even a little bloody where my wings exited my flesh. I touched it, and it burned. I hissed in a breath and then decided to ignore it. It would heal. But obviously my wings wouldn't just disappear, though I may want them to. How would I hide these at school? What if somebody found out? It reminded me of one of my favorite books, Maximum Ride. In fact, it was almost exactly the same with the whole wings part. Would I start being hunted? Would there be others like me? My friends? Drew, Ian, Angel, Gerik, Jaz, Nikki…? How would I tell them? I couldn't just keep it a secret. I sat down on the toilet seat, closed, and was careful about not hitting my wings against the counter and things. I moved them around, opening and closing them, trying to get the hang of it. I walked out after washing my face and making sure I wasn't going to barf, and went back to my room.

When I got in, I sat on my bed and extended my wings out until they touched the walls on each side. My room was thirteen feet across, both ways.

"Whoa…" I whispered in awe. This was amazing. It felt good to stretch them, after my cramped bathroom. I sighed. This would get very complicated, with Drew and Angel and everybody else. If anybody found out, I would most likely get put into a museum and get tested on and caged like a wild animal. I wiggled my wings back and forth, getting used to the feeling of having them there. I felt like I should go out and try to fly, but I didn't want to not know how and end up splatting like a bug in the front lawn. That would turn out well. My back was still sore, but I ignored it. I opened my window, and breathed in the night air. I could feel it going into my lungs, but then going somewhere else. Down towards my stomach.

"Air sacs." I remembered. I didn't bother keeping my voice down, because if my mom and sister were most likely awake already. I touched my stomach and breathed in and out, feeling the air go through my newly acquired air sacs. This was incomprehensible. Amazing. Crazy, whatever you wanted to call it. I mean, I had _wings._ But, how had I gotten them? They obviously appeared, but how had the DNA gotten in my system? Had something triggered the transformation? Who had done this to me? Did it have something to do with the stalkers? Who was I, really? _What_ was I?

**Soooo… do you like it? Personally, this is my favorite chapter. Tell me what you think!! PLEASE!! LOVE THOSE REVIEWS!!!:D and any ideas you've got, feel free to tell me.**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	8. The Truth

**Ayo people.:) I had an idea to update again, so here it is. Hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride is James Patterson's, not mine. I only own the plot and my characters.**

I didn't bother going to school the next day. I slept through my alarm because I was so wiped out from last night. My mom was gone and I hadn't had a chance to tell her anything yet, and I was planning to tell her when she came home for her break. I didn't know what or when I was going to tell Drew, or if I was even going to. It could have something to do with the people that had been following us, so he should know. But he could think I was a freak and stop talking to me, if he even was anyways after I blew him off. He probably hated me. I sighed and rolled over onto my back, forgetting about my wings. I hissed and sat up, then put my head in my hands. Why had this happened to me? Had I done something to deserve this? Did this have something to do with my father, who had been non-existent for practically my entire life. He was a scientist, and I saw him about once a year. My mom didn't like him much; she said that she was stupid to marry him, much less fall in love with him. Ella had a different dad, and I didn't even remember him. One of my mom's many dates, and soon she turned up pregnant.

I heard the door open and close downstairs, and my mom put her keys on the counter. I got up and started to slink down the stairs as mom opened the fridge.

"Mom?" I asked, and she turned around, her eyes wide.

"Max! What are you doing home? I thought you were at school." She said as I walked down the stairs slowly, my back hurting with the new weight on it.

"I slept in. My alarm didn't go off." I told her, and she nodded suspiciously.

"This isn't going to be a habit of yours, is it?"

I shook my head. "No. I just… had a rough night last night." I looked at my feet and took a deep breath, wondering how she would react.

"I heard you screaming… what happened?" her eyes got wide, and she took a few steps closer to me. I took another deep breath and held it this time, and turned around. She gasped loudly, and I could see her out her hands over her mouth and her eyes get as wide as dinner plates. She scrambled over to me and touched my still-sensitive wing and I hissed in a breath. She turned me around as tears started pouring down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close, careful not to touch my wings.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know, I thought they weren't going to postpone it or not do it at all, or- or- or-" she was rambling and sobbing into my shoulder, and I didn't understand a word she was saying. I pushed her away from me and held her by the shoulders, staring into her brown eyes so much like mine.

"What are you talking about? Who was going to postpone what? Mom, what do you know about this?" she was hysterical, sobbing and mumbling incoherent words. I brought her over and sat her on the couch as she started to calm down.

"It- it's Jeb. Your father. He knew." She ground out, putting her face in her hands. My jaw tightened. So he did have something to do with this. Something big, it seemed. Maybe he had planned this for me, had chosen this to happen to me by himself. I stood up, ready to find him and give him a piece of my mind. My mom's hand stopped me and pulled me back on the couch though. "Max, wait, you need to hear the whole story." She begged, her eyes dig and pleading. I sighed, and she went on. " Your father is a genetic scientist, and so he works with different DNA and mixes them together, trying to make new species. And… you were made as an experiment, Max. You were meant to be tested on and observed, like some zoo animal." She told me, and I stared at my hands.

"Wait… are you really my real mom then? Was I made in, like, a test tube?!" I shouted.

"Max, calm down. Let me explain." I clenched my jaw tighter, but shut up. "You are a regular child, and you are my child. You were…conceived normally, and then Jeb decided to make you an experiment. He injected 2% of bird DNA in you, and then he… he took you, and yes, technically you were born by test tube." She whispered the last part, and my mouth was hanging open. I stood up, angry beyond belief.

"And you let them do this?! You let it happen?!" I shrieked at her, and she got tears in her eyes again.

"Oh, Max. I didn't want them to. Jeb drugged me, and took you from me when I was knocked out. He did this against my will, and I hate him for it. I hate him for taking your normal life away, and I hate him for taking away what we could have had. Now I have to live with this guilt, eating at me."

"But Mom, did you let them inject the DNA into me?" I asked. She burst out sobbing again and I turned my back on her.

"I was a scientist, Max! I was young, and I thought I was helping! Jeb talked me into it, and I agreed, and I regret it. More than anything. Jeb must have set some sort of a timer in you, or some way to control you from a distance." She whispered, and sniffled.

"I can't believe this, Mom." I whispered, my back still to her.

"You shouldn't have to, Max. I'm so sorry." I took a deep breath, and turned back around. She was curled in a ball on the couch, her face in her hands.

"Why was I made?" I demanded. She sniffled again and looked up.

"You were made…" she took a deep breath, "To save the world, Max." she whispered, and my breath hitched. I couldn't save the world. I was just one person!

"Are there others?" I breathed. She nodded slowly. "Drew? Angel? Nikki? Jaz? Gerik, Ian…?" I shook my head as she nodded. "No. No. No, they can't. I won't let them." I ran back upstairs as Mom tried to get me to listen to her. I put on regular clothes and shoes, careful not to move too hastily or jostle my wings. I needed to find Drew, Angel, and everyone else.

"Max, wait. You need to rest. Your body is changing, adapting to your wings. Don't do anything too fast or anything that might give away your wings."

I gave her a sour look. "I'm not stupid." I growled at her, and she sighed.

"If people find out about you, they might kill you. Or capture you and experiment on you. That's why I took you away Max. They do horrible things there, at the School. They hurt little children, make them do tests, and sometimes they just kill them for fun. They made another experiment, and they call them Erasers. They're half wolf and half human, they transform from supermodel-looking people to deadly weapons. Don't underestimate them, if you ever have to face them. they are strong, but I know you can take them." she took a deep breath. Why was she telling me this? Was she expecting something to happen? "You can't trust anybody, Max. The School will be looking for you non-stop until they get you, and you can't let them win. They'll just hurt you and torture you until you're dead." She whispered.

I closed my eyes and took her advice in. I was mad at her for doing this, but she was still my mom. I still had to listen to her. I took a deep breath and walked over to the closet to grab my jacket. I walked past my mom and down to the kitchen, then grabbed a knife from the drawer. Mom walked in a few seconds later, just as I was running the knife through the back of my jacket.

"What are you doing?" she gasped and I slit another line.

"Making holes for my wings. I can fly, right?" I spat at her. She winced as I put my jacket on, positioning the slits. I slowly extended my wings, and they fit perfectly through the holes. It felt so good to stretch them. My mom stared in wonder as I extended them fully.

"May I touch them, please? They look so soft…" she breathed, and I nodded slowly. She reached out her hand and brushed her fingers across the soft feathers and gasped. "Oh, Max. They're so beautiful. I can't believe it…" I blushed a little and looked down.

"I have to go, Mom. I need to find my friends, and tell them about this." I insisted.

"Max, you can't trust anybody. I told you. The School will stop at nothing to get you." She said urgently. I looked at her, staring into her eyes.

"These are my friends, mom. They will be going through the same thing, I know it. I have to tell them what to expect, or they'll be completely in the dark like me. I don't want that. They need me, mom." I told her, and she nodded. A tear escaped down her cheek.

"Okay. Just… be safe, Max. I don't want you to get hurt." She hugged me, and I hugged her back. I didn't know if I was going to see her again. Now that I was part bird, the School would want me. And I had to warn my friends. But I could get hurt, or kidnapped, or captured. "I love you, sweetie." She whispered into my hair, then let go.

I let her go, and nodded a goodbye. Then, I walked out the door and into the cold air.

**Okay, kind of a little depressing, but informative. If you have any more questions, just review and tell me. And any ideas for the next chapter too. PLEASE REVIEW!!**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	9. Crash

**Alrighty. I'm back. It's boring here watching football at my grandparent's house, so I'm writing. :) And sorry if it sounds a little weird. I had a few ideas and maybe I'll just mix them together. So this may be a VERY long chapter.**

**ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: JP owns (some of) the characters. I only own the plot.**

I walked outside in the frigid air, and debated on whether I should try to fly or just walk. Walking could help me clear my head and straighten things out, but I should learn how to fly because I might not get the chance later. If I was an experiment, the School would want me back. They would test on me and maybe capture my friends, and I couldn't bear that happening to any of them. I watched my breath come out in white puffs in front of my face. I walked behind the house to our backyard, finally deciding on flying. We had a bare backyard, with a few trees surrounding it. Enough to give me a little privacy and make sure our neighbor didn't see me.

Standing in the middle of the clearing I extended my wings and shook them out. A few down feathers fell to the inch-tall dead grass. Moving the muscles in my wings, I practiced flapping, gaining speed quickly. I took a deep breath and backed up all the way to our house for some room, and started running. I sprinted to the trees, and about 5 feet away I jumped as high as I could, flapping my wings hard and fast. I took to the air and started climbing altitude, slowly but surely. I couldn't stop smiling. I felt so free and weightless, floating in the air like a balloon, almost. At some point I looked down, and my breath flew out of my chest. Everything looked like a little display they have of new buildings that are being built, the little miniature models with the plastic trees and toothpick houses. I forgot about flapping, and suddenly the air was rushing past me and I was dropping like a rock. My arms flailed as I tried to get some air under my wings, and finally they caught and I thought my wings were going to just rip out of my back. I wailed involuntarily, and was panting hard when I got control of my altitude. I let out a big puff of air, and it looked more like a snowball then fog. Then, I started laughing. I was flying, in the air, without anything but my wings and will to keep me from dropping to the earth and splatting like a bug. I mean, how many people can say that? Not that many, I'm guessing.

I started flying in the direction of the school, and I knew exactly where it was, without even looking at a map. It was like a compass implanted in my head, guiding me on which way I was going. Like a magnet was in the school, and it was drawing me towards it. Or, maybe it was Drew. No matter what, I had to talk to him. Despite how awkward it could be, after I ran away from him yesterday. I sighed.

After a few minutes I couldn't feel my toes. I had lost feeling in my fingers already, and I was afraid I would soon lose it in my wings too. I was going slowly as I was flying, because I still didn't really have it down. I flapped faster, and I picked up speed as the school came into view. I could see every little tree and every person walking on the street perfectly. It was like, raptor vision, or something. Maybe this could come in handy. I smiled.

As I approached the school I wondered how exactly I would land. There was a small forest on the back of the school, and I started descending slowly. I saw kids exiting down the stairs and flapped even harder, then had to slow down because I was passing the small grove. I did a U-turn and tucked my wings into my back and dove, not really knowing what I was doing, but something inside me was telling me what to do. I picked up speed and my eyes started to water; a mixture of the cold and the speed I was falling.

Something clicked in my brain, and I flung my wings out. I just barely missed a tree, and another branch scraped across my left wing. I hissed in pain and tried to slow down, almost hitting 3 other trees before I crashed down to the ground and tumbled into some thorn bushes, hissing "Ow-Ow-Ow" the entire way. I groaned and tried to sit up, finding I was stuck. I had barely managed to pull my wings in when I heard people talking and running. I think my hearing improved too, since I could hear every step the people took. I knew I didn't have any broken bones, a lot of scratches, and that I was going to be really sore in the morning.

"Hold on guys, let me check this out! I heard something in here, I know it!" I recognized the voice at once, and struggled to get out of the bushes I was tangled in. The footsteps got faster and louder, and branches moved and twigs cracked.

"Hello? Is anything in here?" Jaz asked, looking around wildly as she came near the group of trees by me. She was in her cheerleading outfit, probably on a break, and her dark brown hair was pulled back. She spotted me as soon as she looked over, and her eyes went wide as I finally got my arm out from under me and started untangling the bushes. "Max?! Is that you?" she helped me out of the bushes, and I kept my back away from her as I pulled my wings tightly into my jacket. "What happened? How did you get here?"

I grunted as I pulled some thorns from my arms and legs. "Ouch. Um, it's a long story, Jaz. Really hard to explain."

"Come on, Max. You can tell me anything, you know that." Her eyes were pleading, and I was tempted to tell here everything. She was really a good friend, and we had gotten close over the past few weeks. We laughed at all the preppy girls who cried if they broke a nail or their makeup smeared, talked about the cute guys, and every other thing there was to talk about. I told her everything, about my dad and what had happened, and all of the things we did.

"I can't tell you right now. I will tell you though." I promised her, and she sighed.

"Why can't you tell me right now?" she pressed. I pressed my lips together and sighed through my nose.

"I just can't. I will tell you. I need to talk to Drew first though. Are Drew, Nikki, Gerik, Ian, and Angel here still?" she helped me up and I stretched my sore legs, ignoring the tiny cuts.

"Yeah, the girls are still at cheerleading and the boys are at basketball tryouts. Why were you gone today? And what is it that you can't tell me?!" she was getting mad, and I felt bad because I was keeping this from her. It'd be better to tell everybody as a group though. But first I needed to find Drew.

"I'll tell you when I have everybody together, alright? It's really important. Meet me back in there in 15 minutes, okay? I'll explain then." I walked out of the forest, limping slightly. I had landed only a few trees away from the edge, which is probably why Jaz heard me.

Jaz sighed angrily. "Max! Come on!" she whined, following me.

"Sorry Jaz. It's really important thought. So meet me in the back with Nikki and Angel. Please?" she had her pouty face on, and she finally agreed by stomping off towards the cheerleaders. I sighed and hurried towards the gym.

I looked through the double doors that led into the gym, and saw a bunch of sweaty guys shooting baskets and having 1-on-1 games. I spotted Drew, Gerik, and Ian across the gym shooting baskets. They were shirtless, and obviously sweaty, but I couldn't help staring at them. They all had great bodies, especially Drew. He had a six-pack, and so did Ian. My mouth dropped open, and I thought I might drool. Then I realized what I was thinking and slammed my head against the door to get them out of my head, not thinking about the cut across my forehead and the giant thick metal door I slammed it against.

"Ow…" I rubbed my forehead, and some of the boys looked over at the door. Including Drew, Ian, and Gerik. "Oops." I whispered, and pushed open the door. I saw Drew's eyes widen considerably, and he looked down at his shirtless body as Gerik and Ian looked at each other and back at me. I bit my lip and kept my head down, not meeting anybody's eyes. Every eye was on me, and almost every guy was shirtless and sweaty. It smelled hot and stuffy in the gym, and I was already overheating.

"Hey! This is a closed practice, missy! Get out of here!" the coach, Mr. Horton, screamed at me, and I kept walking over to the 3 of them. Some basketballs started bouncing again, and everybody went back to what they were doing, except for 4.

"Well, well, well. Look who showed up." Ian joked, but I wasn't in the mood. After growing wings, almost falling to my death, and crashing through the trees, I wasn't too happy.

"I need to talk to you guys." I said. They were all taller than me, and I could tell they felt awkward standing there without any shirts on. Well, so did I. I carefully kept my eyes off their chests.

"Um, I think we can get out of here for a while. Let's ask coach." Gerik suggested, and motioned for Mr. Horton, but he was already on his way over here while staring at me hostily. I noticed that Drew was staring at me, and it was a little creepy.

"Hey, missy. I told you to scat. Why are you here, anyways?" he spat at me.

"I need to talk to these 3. Can they leave for a few minutes?" I asked as sweetly as I could manage, without it being too obvious. He sighed.

"Well, I'm done with them anyways. Go ahead, kids." He waved us away with a bored expression and turned away to yell at a kid that had tried to dunk it, but had only succeeded in smacking a few kids in the head.

"Come on, let's go. Before he changes his mind." I turned towards the door, and the boys ran to the sidelines to grab the shirts they had shedded earlier.

We walked into the hallway, and I took a deep breath of the non-polluted-by-stink air. Drew still hadn't said anything, and Ian and Gerik were chatting away about what their next "project" would be. They were whispering, so I could only catch some of it. Not that I would want to know.

"Dude we should do a…"

"No way! We have to do a…."

"Nuh-uh! That's way overrated. We should do the…"

It went on and on. I walked fast outside and saw the girls waiting already. I smiled, and Nikki ran up to me.

"Max! Where were you today? I missed you. I really need to tell you something! It's really important. But don't you have something to say? That's what Jaz said. She said you wouldn't tell her anything, and that you would tell us all later. Why do you have all those cuts, Max? Did you fall down, or something? Because I hate falling down. It really hurts, right? And especially if it's down like a hill and you end up in a bush." She babbled on and on. "Oh, hey Ian! Hi Gerik! Hi Drew! Did you just have basketball practice? Because you look all sweaty and a little nasty. Does it smell in the gym? I bet it does, since all the boys are-"

"Nikki, please! My ears are bleeding!" Ian wailed. Nikki took a deep breath and huffed.

"Fine." She pouted.

"Alright. I really need to talk to everybody, but we need to go somewhere more private. Come on in the woods." I motioned my head to where I had crashed earlier, and we all migrated in. I sighed when we were all standing in a little circle, and began to think about my little speech. Everyone was staring at me and I took a deep breath.

**Haha! Cliffy. Well, not too much. But it was getting too long for me. So, I'll update later this week and how everybody takes the speech. REVIEW!! I love them so very very much. :)**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	10. Strange

**Okay, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!! Hope 2010 is good for everybody out there. And just FYI, Jaz is a new character I made up. Pretend it's the girl from the Institute, how about that? I just felt like I should add someone else to the story. Anyway, enjoy!**

"Okay, nobody freak out. Promise me." I met eyes with all of them, and they were confused but willing. They all nodded, and I took a deep breath and turned around, slipping off my jacket. "Whatever you do, _don't scream_." I warned them. I slowly extended my wings, and they all gasped. I even heard someone squeak with fear. I looked over my shoulder, and they were all staring at the collection of feathers coming out of my back. They were all equally shocked, even Drew. They had their mouths open as wide as they went, and their eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

"Max… what… what are they?" Angel breathed beside me. I pulled them back in slowly, and they started to come back alive from their trance as I turned back around.

"Wings. They're my wings. I… grew them the other night. I'm a science experiment, actually. My mom and dad made me, so they could study me and experiment on me like a lab rat." I spat out, still angry about it. Angel, Jaz, and Nikki's eyes went wide with sympathy. "My mom came to her senses when I was… born, and took me away. And I must have had some pre-programmed chip implanted in my brain, and it was triggered by something. And I think it was all of you." I motioned to the little circle, and they all looked at each other surprised.

"Like… how?" Ian asked.

"I don't know really. Maybe you guys are experiments too. That could mean that you could sprout wings any minute now." I winced as I remembered the pain I went through, and how horrible it would be to watch any of them go through it. "I really hope I'm wrong, or just paranoid. I don't want any of you going through this. The place that made me was called the School, and they made recombinant life forms out of mixed DNA. They have these horrible animals called Erasers, who look like supermodels and then turn into wolf-men. They protect the School and they will kill anything, including us. If they have orders, they can hunt us down and take us back to the School. Although, I hope I'm wrong." I repeated, taking information out of what my mom had told me.

"So, these Erasers, they're like werewolves?" Gerik asked, trying to make a joke.

"Pretty much, yeah. But they can change when they want, and they don't fully turn into wolves. More like, wolf people. They have the body of a human and can walk on 2 legs, but they have a snout and claws, etc. Probably even worse than werewolves, actually." I said sadly. I wasn't even sure if that was really true, but I had seen a picture of something similar somewhere, maybe in a file of my mom's one day.

"So, you're saying, we're gonna sprout wings and start to fly? I mean, come on Max, isn't that a little crazy?" Nikki said, probably the shortest sentence she ever muttered. I raised my eyebrows.

"Well, did you not see the things coming out of my back, Nikki? And that's how I got here; I flew." I told her.

"So that's why you were in the bushes! I heard something crash through the trees! I knew I wasn't crazy!" Jaz sang, pointing at Nikki accusingly, but still friendly.

"I never said you were crazy! I just said you were hearing things, alright?" Nikki put her hands up in surrender. Jaz gave her a "Uh-huh" look. I smirked.

"Yeah, I kind of need to work on landing better." I confessed, and then sighed. "So, any questions?"

"Um, yeah…" Gerik raised his hand shyly, like he was afraid to ask. I nodded at him to go ahead. "What exactly _are_ you, Max?"

The question took me by surprise. I hadn't thought about it before. Was I a bird? Or a human? Or a bit of both? Did I have any other DNA in me? I shook my head slowly, concentrating on a twig in the middle of the circle.

"I don't know, Gerik. Really, I don't know." I whispered, and I felt Angel's arms wrap around me, careful of my wings. I put a protective arm around her and gave her a hug. I closed my eyes, burying my face in her hair. I felt everybody else hug me, a giant group hug, except for Drew. I peeked over Ian's head, and he was just standing there staring at me. He met my eyes, and he told me everything he was thing through that connection. He was sorry for me, he was scared of who could be next, what this could mean for us, how this affected his family, and what we were going to do next. I shrugged very lightly, and he understood. I needed to talk to him, about yesterday and about my wings. But it had to be in private.

After we broke apart, the girls had to get back to cheerleading. They were doing an extra cheer thing, and they couldn't miss is. Ian and Gerik decided to head back to basketball practice, even though the couch would probably not be too happy with them. So, that left me and Drew alone together.

I sat down on a log in the clearing, while Drew just stood there, pacing back and forth. He still hadn't said a word to me all day.

"Are you going to talk to me, Drew?" I demanded, and he stopped pacing for a moment to look at me, then went right on pacing. I sighed. "Come on, please?" I really wanted to hear his voice, after all that had happened. It always had a calming effect on me. But still no answer. After another moment I stood up and blocked his pacing path, and he just stared at me solidly. He tried to move around me, but I sidestepped and grabbed his arm, making sure he didn't move. "Talk to me. Please." I breathed, and his face was closer than I intended it to be. I didn't back down though.

"What's there to talk about?" his tone was stone cold, but I didn't let it affect me. Just hearing his voice was a relief, then I realized what he said. My eyebrows shot up.

"I just told you I have wings, and that the rest of you might get them soon, and you don't think there's anything to talk about?" he stared at me, and I saw no emotion in his face at all. Except a tiny spark of anger flickered across his eyes, and I let go of his arm and took a step back, hurt. He didn't care. Why would he? I had run away from him when he kissed me, and now he had lost interest. I was stupid to think he cared about me at all, let alone enough to help me through this. I shook my head and bit my tongue as a tear welled in my eye. I swallowed hard to get rid of them and turned away, and I saw as Drew read my mind -figuratively- and tried to catch me as I walked away. He knew what I was thinking, and now he was ashamed of it? Geez, make up your mind.

He grabbed my arm before I could take 5 steps, and spun me around to face him gently.

"Max, you know that's not true." He insisted. I stayed silent. "Come on, Max, I could never do that to you. I would never abandon you like that. You should know that." He searched my eyes thoroughly, but I kept a mask firmly in place. "Max, please don't think that. Please don't think I would ever let you go or abandon you, or do anything to hurt you." He whispered, and I took a deep breath. I didn't know why he had that uncanny ability to read my mind like he did, but it was pretty annoying right now. I didn't want him thinking I didn't care about him, or anything along that line. But I didn't trust my voice at that point, so it was okay that I didn't have to speak. He sighed and –surprisingly- pulled me into a hug. My eyes went wide, and then closed as I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned into his warmth as he started rubbing small circles on my back between my wings. It was really comforting right then, and I felt a tear drop down my cheek and off my chin. I sniffled and hung onto his shirt like my life depended on it. Which, it very well could have. Or at least my sanity did.

"Max?" he whispered into my hair a few minutes later.

"Hmm?" I asked lazily.

"Can I see your…wings?" he asked, a bit sheepishly. I pulled away from him and nodded slightly, extending then fully and stretching them. I sighed in contentment as he began to softly stroke a few of the down feathers, and he walked around them, stroking and petting, and I saw his lips curl up a bit at the ends. I very well could have fallen asleep right there, right then, it felt so good. Nobody had touched them like this before, and I loved it. I sighed again, and he pulled his hands away. I looked at him quickly.

"Sorry." He muttered as he looked down at his shoes.

"For what?" I asked.

"The… petting thing. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable at all." He was looking at everything but me.

"What? No, I… I really liked it, actually. It felt really good." I admitted letting out an embarrassed laugh, and he looked up at me, surprised.

"Really?" he smirked, and I nodded slowly. He continued petting my wing until he got to my back, and he started massaging between my wings. It felt truly amazing, to have a back massage like this. I smiled and closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling. Suddenly he hit a tender spot, and I hissed in pain. He pulled his hands back and took a few steps backwards.

"What'd I do? I'm sorry Max, I didn't mean to. I-I-" he stuttered and tried to find the right words. I turned to him, careful not to smack him in the face with my wings, and walked up to him.

"No, it's fine, it's just that they're a little tender still." I reassured him, and he nodded. I had never seen him like this. His eyes were wide, and he looked like he could even possibly cry because he touched a tender spot. "Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded and gave me a huge, dazzling smile. My breath hitched for a moment, and I smiled back a little. Then I noticed something. "You have fangs!" I giggled, and he looked completely confused.

"What? What is that supposed to mean, Max?" he seemed utterly confused, and skeptical.

"Your canine teeth! They look like fangs!" I told him, and he figured it out.

"But, why did you just notice this _now_?" he asked. I just shrugged.

"You know what? I'm gonna call you Fang from now on." I smiled triumphantly, then wondered what had gotten into me. I was acting like I was high! I giggled.

"Hmm… Fang. I like it, actually." He smiled at me, showing his canines again. It only made me smile bigger.

"Alright, _Fang_. So what do you want to do now?" I asked him as I sat down on the log again, and he sat right next to me. All the tension from before was gone now, and it felt like before he kissed me. Just friends.

"Hey, since we've already been to your house, why don't we hang out at mine? My parents are rarely home, and we can do whatever we want there. Maybe you could practice landing." He suggested, tracing a cut on my arm. I smiled at him, nodding quickly.

"Sure. That sounds like a great idea, Fang." I stood up and he grabbed my hand, leading me on the way to his house.

**Okay… long chapter. I hope you liked it! I don't know why, but I felt like making them a little crazy at the end. They were way OOC, I know. And there is the beginning of Fang. I'll find a way to change all of the others' names later, but now I've gotta get them to Fang's house. So, we'll see how that goes next chapter. This was another New Years present to all of you, so REVIEW!!**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	11. House

**Wow. You guys reviewed a lot on that last chapter. Thank you! You have no idea how happy those reviews make me. And, the more reviews I get, the more encouraged I am to update sooner, FYI. Just a little fact that you might want to know on how fast this story goes.:)**

**ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: JP owns everyone, except for Jaz. And the plot is mine, too.**

Fang walked through the tiny woods with ease, jumping over logs and avoiding branches like he knew where everything was already. Maybe he did. But I was following him closely, as his hand intertwined with mine to make sure he didn't lose me in this jungle, and I was snapping every twig my foot came in contact with, every branch we passed slapped me in the face or some body part- depending on how high or low it was- and I would trip over every log that we passed. _Great survival skills, Max. _I scolded myself.

Finally we got out of the woods and saw a tiny foothill, and beyond that was a chain-link fence, and further beyond that were some big fancy houses. Fang looked back to check on me and make sure I was okay, and he proceeded to drag me forward to the fence.

"Where do you live, Fang?" I wondered. He pitched his head forward as if to say "right here." My eyes widened. "You live… _here_?" I whispered. He looked back at my amazed face and nodded, a little embarrassed. "Whoa." All of the houses were picture-perfect: not a weed in any lawn, not even a blade of grass too long. Every house had a white outside with large columns and shutters, hedges perfectly manicured around the house with white picket fences surrounding the property. Brightly colored flowerboxes hung out of every window, and I even saw one of those yippy dogs that never stop barking and try to look big and powerful, but really they're more scared of anything that comes near them than they let on.

Fang let go of my hand and started hopping up the fence like a trained squirrel. I watched as he nimbly hopped over the other side and looked at me expectantly.

I raised my eyebrows. "You're joking, right? I can't climb this thing! I've never been able to climb more than two feet on the rope in P.E!" I squeaked at him. He shrugged.

"Come on, it's the only way you can get over here. If you don't want to see my house, then fine. Stay over there." he smirked at me, knowing I would like to see his house, and I scowled back.

"Fine. But you can't let me fall when I get over to the other side." I leveled with him, and he nodded seriously.

"I promise you won't fall, Max." he told me.

I took a deep breath and linked my fingers in the fence, and he had a small smirk on his face as he watched me hoist myself up and painfully climb to the top. I made it and looked down at him, and he motioned for me to come down. I huffed and swung the leg that was on the other side of the fence over, going down backwards. I lowered down slowly, but my hands were starting to get sweaty on they chains, and my hand slipped. I couldn't help but let a small squeak escape my lips as I fell over backwards, positive I was about to hit the ground when strong arms caught me, bridal style. The air was knocked out of me and Fang huffed as my weight fell on his arms, and I instinctively rolled towards him as he stabilized himself. He looked down at me and smirked.

"I told you I wouldn't let you fall." He gloated, and I smacked his arm. This was pretty awkward, now that I thought about it. Fang looked me in the eyes, and I felt sort of trapped. I couldn't move anywhere, and his gaze was like chains practically. I found the strength to look away and cleared my throat.

"You can put me down, Fang." I muttered, and he let his arm under my legs fall so my feet connected with hard ground. His hand lingered on my waist a little longer than I would have liked, but I was still a little wobbly, so I let it pass. I nodded at him and said "Lead the way." He turned and walked across the street, then turned to the left. I followed right on his heels as he walked through two other neighborhoods, both equally nice. Finally we turned onto a different street, and he started up a walkway to a huge white house with pillars –like the other neighborhoods- but this house was amazing. The lawn was perfect, the stone walkway was perfect, and everything about this house was perfect. It literally looked like the White House, maybe even bigger.

I was no doubt catching flies, and my eyes were about to pop out of my head. I stopped dead in my tracks and Fang looked back at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Care to explain why I never knew you had a house like this?!" I squeaked. Man, I was doing a lot of squeaking today. He just shrugged, but I saw a smirk fill his lips, and my heart did a flip-flop. _He's so…_ I started to think, then mentally slapped myself. _No thinking about him like that! He's your _friend_, not your boyfriend. _I shook my head to get these thoughts out.

He walked a few steps back to where I was still standing with my mouth open, and grabbed my hand again to drag me inside. If I thought the outside was amazing, the inside made it look like a public restroom. Everything was made out of marble, and the front hallway seemed like a ballroom. It was huge, with more pillars along the inside parallel to each other. There was a pattern of diamond shapes in the middle of the room, and they looked to be made out of gold embedded in the floor. There was a fairytale staircase leading up to an open hallway that split off into two directions: left and right. I had subconsciously taken a few steps forward and Fang had let go of my hand as I looked at this room. It literally looked like a fairytale castle, all that was needed was a princess in a poofy dress and a handsome prince to come waltzing through the doors. When I thought of the prince, why did my mind suddenly picture me and Fang? I gulped and turned back to him.

"Fang, this… this place is a… palace." He smirked.

"So you like it?" he guessed, and all I could do was nod. "Well, that's not the half of it." He seemed to be enjoying himself as he pulled me through the hallway to the right and past mazes of doors and more etched-gold floors. If I hadn't have been holding Fang's hand, I would have been lost in here forever. After passing what seemed like a million doors, he stopped outside one of them and stepped aside.

He motioned his hand to the white and gold-trimmed door like a butler might and said "Ladies first." Like a gentleman would. Though Fang was anything but a gentleman. Or was he?

I reached to the handle and slightly turned it, and the door swung open. Inside, I couldn't help but gasp a little. Everything was still etched in gold, and there was a fireplace on the far side of the room. Everything that was personal was black, and the rest of the room was white. Bet Fang wasn't ecstatic about that. The size of his room was probably around the size of the entire upstairs of my house, and that was a good sized house. He had a large king-sized bed in the middle of the room against the left wall that had a black bed spread (shocker, I know), and the rest of the room had posters of various bands. And, though weird to admit, it was beautiful. The whole house was beautiful, to say the least. I saw a door on the opposite wall and walked over to it.

"No-Max- don't go in there…!" Too late. I had already pushed open the door, and I saw a huge walk-in closet before me. He probably had more clothes in this one closet than I had had in my entire life. For probably the tenth time that day my mouth hung open and my eyes were huge. I turned back to Fang. He shrugged sheepishly. "I told you not to open it…" he grumbled. I blinked.

"This place is amazing, Fang. What do your parents _do_?" I asked him. He sighed and walked over to his bad and sat down, and I followed suit after closing the door to his closet (if you could even call it that). He laid in the middle of his bed and stared at the ceiling, and I just laid next to him with my eyes searching the beautiful room.

"They're scientists. I think they found some sort of… DNA, thing. I don't know, and frankly I really don't care. I never see them, and I think I'm just another thing to worry about. They are so arrogant about all of their work, sometimes they record the shows about them on TiVo and give them as gifts to people. That's why they have no friends. Other than their co-workers. And… one day, I think I remember them talking together and saying something about… Valencia Martinez." He looked over at me, and both of our eyes showed the same thing: fear. If they had worked with my mom, it would mean Fang could very well be a part of the same experiment. I couldn't stop myself from reaching over the small space between us and grabbing his hands, and he intertwined our fingers again. For some reason, it just felt _right_ to hold his hand.

"Max… how did it happen?" he whispered, looking away from me. I knew what he was talking about.

"Well… I was sleeping, and dreaming. And… suddenly, my back hurt. Extremely. And… I was just achy and everything hurt. The pain was horrible, especially in my back. It went on for a while, and then I was just all sweaty and I went into the bathroom, and I saw… wings." I recalled, then sighed and rolled over so I was facing him. He did the same, and our faces were less than a foot away from each other. "Fang, I don't want anybody else going through that pain. It was horrible, and I remember that all I wanted to do was die, right then and there." I took a shaky breath, and he wrapped his free arm around me and pulled me close to him. I rested my head in the crook of his neck as he started massaging little circles into my back as he did before, careful not to hit a tender spot. I grabbed a handful of his shirt as I talked, pulling me even closer to him. "I swear, if I could, I would kill the scientists who made this happen. The ones who triggered it, not the ones who planned it." I clarified, thinking of my and Fang's parents. I closed my eyes, and Fang was silent.

We stayed like that for a while, until finally I fell asleep on the soft bed, still curled up with my best friend. I began to dream of something, but that was all ruined when Fang started screaming at the top of his lungs.

**Okay, semi-cliffy. I would make it longer but I'm about to pass out here, so you're just gonna have to wait until I can get the next chapter up.:) So REVIEW and tell me how you like it! Good, bad, horrible, wonderful, anything! All welcome.**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	12. Not Again

**Sorry I took so long to update! I was trying to build maybe a little suspense, but its probably way too obvious what happens now anyways.**

**Disclaimer: JP's characters and ideas of the wings and all that, not mine. Only the plot.**

Fang screamed, and as it echoed around the room it sent shivers down my spine and made my eyes flare open wide and my jaw drop in horror. _No!_ I screamed in my head. _Not here, not now! Why, why, _why?!

He yelled again, a blood curdling scream that he tried unsuccessfully to hide, with his back arching and twisting as he rolled over again and again, almost falling off the bed. I grabbed his arm just in time and pulled him back to the middle as he let out yet another scream of pain. His eyes were huge and his pupils were switching between so small they were barely noticeable and almost filling his irises. I couldn't help but put my hand over my mouth, thinking of the pain he would be going through. Silent tears ran down my cheeks as I held his hand tightly, watching him twist and turn. I closed my eyes every time he screamed or tried to hide it, and could only watch what was happening and feel him squeezing my hand so tightly it was almost losing circulation. There was sweat dripping down his face, more every minute, and it was starting to soak through his clothes. Ew. Then I got an idea to help.

I let go of his hand for a second and his eyes focused on me, silently pleading, and ran down the hallway to search for a bathroom. I opened three of the gold patterned doors before I found it: a giant room all by itself with two bathtubs an enormous shower and a toilet in the far corner, with a mirror on the entire other wall above two marble sinks. I grabbed the first towel I saw and turned the cold knob on the bathtub, drenching the towel as fast as I could. As soon as it was cold enough I ran back into the room where Fang's screams and grunts were coming from.

I jumped on the bed and slowly drained out a little of the water on his body to cool it down, since there was too much water in the towel. He sighed a little in relief, and then hissed and his eyes tightened as he tried not to scream. I folded up the towel and put it on his forehead. He sighed and his eyes focused on me as he whispered "Thank you," so softly I could barely hear him. I gave him a tiny smile as he closed his eyes and tried to relax before the next wave of pain hit.

This happened for about an hour with me running back and forth a few times to the bathroom to get the towel soaked again. Finally, he stopped hissing and screaming in pain and just lay there, exhausted. I rubbed his arm as he tried to calm down, scared. I could plainly see it in his eyes when he looked up at me later, and I put my other arm that wasn't being used and put it around his neck, pulling him into an awkward hug. He weakly put his hand on my waist and buried his head in my neck.

"Max… what just… happened?" he whispered, gulping in my ear.

"Come on, Fang. I'll show you." I told him, and he nodded. I squeezed my eyes shut and pulled back, grabbing his hand and pulling him up. When he stood he almost fell, so I put his arm around my shoulder and helped him to the bathroom. He blinked as I turned on the bright lights, then leaned against the bathtub I had used for the towels.

He was too weak to take off his own shirt- as I had been too, though I hadn't needed to- and tried to refrain from staring at his sculpted chest. I gently turned him around to see his jet black-almost-blue wings sticking out, much like I assume mine would be. The skin around them was tomato red, and there were tiny down feathers sticking out between the larger ones. I gently held touched his back, without thinking, and he hissed. I pulled my hand back like it was burned, and he looked at me over his shoulder from the corner of his eye.

"It's what I think it is, isn't it?" he asked, but it was more like a statement. I could only nod.

"Try using your muscles and extend them. It'll feel better." I reassured him, and his shoulders flexed a few times as he tried to find which muscles they were. When he moved his back a little they started opening, and he gasped as the tips appeared behind his shoulder and he watched, in a trance, as they fully extended. The feathers rustled and settled together as some of the down feathers fell to the ground. It was beautiful, really._ They_ were beautiful. When I had had my wings fully extended in my bathroom, they touched the corners. In this bathroom, I could probably fit five times my wingspan in and still not touch the walls; it was that amazingly huge.

We both just stared at his wings. I couldn't help but reach out to touch them, and they were the softest things I had ever felt, almost like a baby chick's down. They were all black, like raven feathers, and they changed colors when he moved them: black to purple, purple to blue, and even a little bit of orange and green mixed in.

I went around to face him, and he just stared at me with fear in his eyes, and he didn't even try to hide it.

"What happens now, Max?" He questioned as I stroked the other side of his feathers. They were just as soft, maybe even softer. I stopped and looked him in the eye.

"I'm not sure. I guess we just have to wait and see, Fang." I told him honestly. You really can't lie to your best friend. Have you ever tried? Well, it doesn't feel good. I mean, not that I've ever lied to my best friend…

Fang sat on the edge of the tub and pulled his wings in, rolling his shoulders. I couldn't help but notice his pecks move, and I looked away quickly but he still noticed. He smirked, and I just traced the golden pattern on the floor. It was more triangles, like in the front room.

"Do you notice anything else that changed?" I asked suddenly, thinking of my vision and how light I had felt. Not to mention my air sacs. Fang raised an eyebrow, thinking in his perverted ways. I smacked his shoulder, and he pouted and held his arm in mock-hurt. "Not like that, perv. Like, do you feel lighter, do you have better vision…?" he thought for a moment, staring into the mirror.

"I do, actually. I feel lighter, and like I have way better vision than I did, and better hearing. Like, I can hear my parents way on the other side of the house." He scoffed and shook his head. Then he put a hand on his stomach and his brow furrowed as he stared at his abs. I tried not to drool, so I just watched his face. "Is that air?!"

I chuckled. "Yeah, it is. I thought the same thing. They're air sacs. You know, how birds need to have air sacs to fly in high altitudes to get all of the oxygen out of the air." I pointed out, and he nodded, realization on his face.

"Ah. So, we really are birds now, huh? Man that is so weird to say." He mumbled to himself and I smiled at him, nodding.

"Yeah, we are. But only 2%, my mom said." My jaw tightened as I said that, and it didn't go unnoticed by Fang. He wrapped his arm around my waist (a little too close to my butt for me) and pulled me closer on the slippery tile of the tub. I wrapped my arms around his waist and put my head on his chest, ignoring the fact that he was shirtless.

"Don't worry, Max. We'll get through this, I promise." He whispered in my hair, and I let myself believe it instead of shooting down his hopes with my stupid logic.

I just buried my head into his chest for comfort, tightening my arms on his waist. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad with Fang by my side.

Huh, or not.

**Sorry if it's a little OOC, it's just how I pictured it would be. And, does anyone else really want to live in his house? And I know its made up, but that would be the coolest thing ever to live in a house like that. That would be so awesome. :P So, REVIEW!!! Tell me if you have any ideas, or any constructive criticism you would like to share with me. :)**

**Till later~**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	13. Family

**Okay, sorry it took so long to update. I stopped it at a sort of weird spot, so I couldn't really think of something to go after it. I need some ideas, people!! If you have any, please feel free to tell them to me. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the characters, or their wings (except for Jaz) and the plot is mine.**

I woke up to a door slamming against the wall. My eyes shot open and I sucked in a quick breath, jackknifing into a sitting position. I rubbed my eyes. I was back on the bed in Fang's room- and under the covers, too- but I didn't remember anything about coming in here. The last thing I remembered was sitting by the tub with Fang, and then it went fuzzy. I felt Fang sit up quickly next to me, and he rubbed his eyes and groaned when he opened them. I looked around the room, and my eyes landed on the door.

There was a girl standing there with her arms crossed and a bit of a snobby look on her face, staring at me and Fang. She was tall, and she had the same jet-black hair that Fang had, but hers was almost down to her waist. Her dark eyes were penetrating, and she looked skeptical. She looked like she could have been Fang's twin, so they were obviously siblings. She had on a denim mini-skirt with a too-low tank top, high heels, and bunches of jewelry around her neck and wrists with earrings that almost touched her shoulders. Her eyes were outlined with dark eyeliner and a bright blue eye shadow, with so much cover up that it was plainly visible from across the room, and her cherry red lipstick was almost like a reflector. She seemed like the girl who was completely spoiled and at the top of the food chain, and she knew it.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." Her voice was nasally and high-pitched, and I immediately didn't like her. Fang groaned again, and glared at her.

"Go away, LeAnn. Go out with your _boyfriend_ and leave us alone." He hissed at her. She stuck out her tongue, then her eyes fell on me. She got a smirk on her face and her eyes raked my face and the top half of my body, which was the only visible part of me.

"I see you're finally getting busy, Andrew. Good for you." Her eyebrow rose, and Fang's face went from unemotional to deadly in about a second.

"You know it's not like that, Lee. Now just shut up and leave." His tone was pure steel, and his fists were clenching and unclenching by his sides. Her face took on a mock-pouty look, with her lips puffed out and her eyes wider.

"Now come on, Drew. You haven't even introduced us yet." She giggled annoyingly, and I rolled my eyes. I rolled my head over to look at Fang, and he groaned again and ran a hand through his hair. I noticed that he had no shirt on, and his toned chest flexed as he clenched his other fist. The tip of his black wing was showing over his shoulder, and he subconsciously pulled his shoulders back to hide them. The covers he was under stopped right at his waist, and it gave the illusion that he was naked. I blushed a little and looked down at the covers below me, and saw that I only had a T-shirt on and the covers were at my waist, too. So, it probably did look like we… did something last night. Fang caught my eye, and he gave me a "sorry about this" look. I nodded a little, and looked back at LeAnn, which apparently was her name.

"LeAnn, this is my _friend_ Max. Max, meet my… sister, LeAnn." He put special emphasis on friend, and he was stopping himself from saying something before sister. I sent him a look that said "I didn't know you had siblings…" and he just shrugged. I nodded a tiny hello to her, and she gave that snotty smirk again.

"Nice to meet you, _Max_. Now, be honest, how good is he in bed?" she whispered to me, and my eyebrows shot up, then my jaw clenched and my eyes narrowed.

"LeAnn!" Fang hissed, and I could tell he was going to a great deal of trouble to stop himself from jumping up and shoving her out of the room. I set my hand on his arm, and he sighed and calmed down. I managed to keep my voice calm and steady, despite what I was feeling inside.

"And what would make you think that?" I asked. She smirked again.

"I heard the screaming last night. I mean, it was pretty hard not to. It woke up mom and dad, and even Evan, too, who are on the other side of the house. If you heard that, what would you think?" she smirked, like she ruled the whole world. Fang looked at me, and we practically shared the same thought. _What do we tell her_? He slightly shook his head no, and that was "of course we don't tell her." "Well? Are you going to answer me? Or are you going to just make goo-goo eyes at each other?" LeAnn asked. I turned away from Fang and glared at her, with Fang mimicking my motions. She put her hands up in mock-surrender. "Sorry. But it's true."

"No its not, LeAnn. Now just get out, before I finally decide to strangle you." Fang made a point of his voice sounding calm, which made it even more menacing. She stuck her tongue out at him, and turned to leave.

She muttered "Stupid little lovebirds," under her breath, not intending for us to hear, but we did with our newly acquired hearing. I snorted out loud, and had to put my hand over my mouth to stop from laughing out loud. She hadn't heard me, so she kept walking away with her hips swinging wildly and her head high. I was still silently laughing, and Fang looked at me with his eyebrow raised. Then he shook his head and got up to shut the door. I couldn't help but notice just how good he looked in just his dark jeans and messed up hair. I blushed again and looked down at my hands. The door shut and it was silent for a minute.

He cleared his throat and said "Sorry you had to see that. I wasn't thinking about them last night when I brought you here…" he stared down at a pattern on his floor and bit his lip. He had his jaw clenched and I knew he was punishing himself in his head for even thinking of having me here.

"It's not your fault. But…. Why didn't you tell me you had a sister?" I questioned. I leaned my elbows on my knees as I criss-crossed them under the warm covers. Fang sighed.

"I actually have two. You met LeAnn already, and she's 17. I have another sister, Evan, who's 13. I didn't tell you before because I thought it really didn't matter." He whispered the last part and shrugged.

"Well of course it matters, Fang. Its your family." I gave him a "Duh" look, and he just shrugged again. I rolled my eyes and threw my legs out of the bed; my bare feet hit the cold marble floor. I noticed I was only in a T-shirt and shorts, but they weren't my shorts. They were way too big for me, and they were guys' basketball shorts. Fang must've brought me in here from the bathroom and changed my jeans… that's a little creepy. "Did you change my pants?" his eyes got wider for a split second, then they went back to normal. He shook his head quickly. I crossed my arms over my chest, and leaned on my back leg, giving him the "No crap" look. He still shook his head, and I smirked.

"I swear I did not change your pants. It-it… you probably changed them before you went to sleep, but you just forgot." He gave an almost nervous giggle.

"Uh-huh…. So I'm just magically in someone else's pants, and I don't remember anything about it."

He nodded, like a little kid trying to cover up something that he knows he's going to get caught for. "Yup. That's exactly what happened. I mean, I would never violate your privacy like that, cause you know, you're my best friend, and… and…" he searched for words, and as he talked I took steps closer to him. He kept backing up and soon he hit the wall, stammering and sputtering. My smirk grew, and I could see the faintest blush creep onto his cheeks. He wouldn't meet my eyes, and it was pretty funny to watch him like this: vulnerable and adorable. Wait, forget the adorable part.

"Hmmm… and my jeans just magically disappeared, too, huh?" I pretended to play along; making sure it was obvious I knew the truth. I took another step, coming even closer to him. I saw his Adam's apple bob, and his blush got more prominent.

"Actually I-I think I see them over…" he grabbed my shoulders, brushing my arm accidentally and making the skin there flare up, and turned me around. My jeans were folded on a chair near the edge of the bed, on the opposite side that I had slept on. Hm. Curious….

"Well. If you didn't do it then I wonder how they got onto your side of the room…" I said in a dreamy tone, pretending to think. I slowly strutted over to the pants, feeling Fang's eyes on me the whole way. I snatched them and turned back to him. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and he raised his eyebrow when I turned around. "I'll be back. I'm gonna change."

"Uh-huh. You do that, and then I'll show you the kitchen." His face was back to the mask, and there was no remnince of the blush left, like I had only imagined it. I walked out the door and across the hall to the bathroom, got changed, and walked back out. I tapped on the open door to his room, and he had already seen me and walked out with me. He had put on a shirt, and I threw the shorts on his bed and followed him through the maze of halls and doors again.

We went through a swinging door into a huge white marble – of course- room with two dark wooden tables on the sides, a giant island in the middle. There were high-tech appliances all over the place, and a few chefs with the funny hats were stumbling around. They glanced up for a minute and then went back to their work. A man walked around a corner I hadn't seen, and he was staring at a large newspaper. Fang tensed next to me, and the man looked up.

He was middle-aged, and had dark brown graying hair. He was fit, and he had on a dark green polo tucked into black pleated pants with a plain black belt. He was muttering something to himself, and then he stopped and looked up. The chefs pretended to be busy with their breakfast, and the smell of bacon and pancakes started to waft up. He looked at me first, and his eyes were a hard black. They were confused, but it didn't show on his face. Then he saw Fang, and recognition sparked. He had a certain resemblance to him, but it wasn't like Fang's sister.

"Ah, Andrew. I wasn't expecting you to be here so early. Aren't you supposed to be at school?" he asked, giving him a skeptical look. He set down the newspaper and crossed his arms over his chest. Fang cleared his throat.

"I wasn't really feeling good this morning, so I stayed home." He shrugged it off, but his jaw was tense.

"And who is your… friend?" his eyes raked me up and down again, but this time they were meaner. I automatically tensed.

"I'm Max, Drew's friend." I told him. I kept my face emotionless, and tried to look a bit uninterested. He nodded slowly, and formally extended his hand for me to shake. I calmly shook it, and his hand felt like sandpaper. It was hard and calloused, and his grip was insanely strong. I pulled back my hand forcefully, and he gave Fang a hard look behind me. I turned and saw he was giving him the same stare, and I shot him a "WTH" look. He shook his head and mouthed _not now_.

"Well, its nice to meet you, Max. I have heard Andrew speak of you a few times. He talks very fondly of you. And what, may I ask, what was that screaming that we all heard last night? It was horrendous." He said, but there was a certain glint in his eyes that told me he already knew; that he was just faking that he didn't know so we would think he didn't know but really he did know and he just wanted us to think he didn't for some reason. **(Haha did that make any sense or what?) **I refrained myself from saying anything about it.

"Oh, he does, does he? I'll be sure to ask him about what sometime." I replied, trying to sound smarter and more polite. This was definitely his father, and I didn't want to make a fool of myself and get Fang yelled at for hanging out with a dumb girl. I turned to give him a look, and he just rolled his eyes at me. I shot him a tiny smirk to show I was just joking, but he looked at his father and his face went blank except for the tightening in his jaw.

"Oh yes, be sure to." He held a sort of evil smirk on his face, and that made me really suspicious of him. He glanced over to a wall, and I noticed an elaborate – but what in this house _isn't_ elaborate? - clock, and it chimed 9 o'clock. "Well, that's a shame. I must be heading off to work now. Andrew, be sure to get your homework from your friends that did go to school, and contact your teachers that you were sick. Max, it was a pleasure to meet you, and maybe next time we shall be able to talk for longer. Feel better, son, and I will see you later. And make sure your sisters are in the house at 10 tonight!" he yelled as he walked out, and a second later the door slammed shut.

"Well. They seem… nice." I tried to sound sweet, but Fang saw right through it. He snorted, and then grabbed my hand to pull me out of the kitchen. For some reason it flamed up, and it sent a tingle through my veins.

"Sure. Now, do you _see_ why I tried to keep them away from you?" he asked, and that only made me snort.

**Ok, so a little OOC and pretty weird, but it was an ok chapter. Or so I think. I need some ideas!! If you have any, please tell me. Anything helps. Review and tell me if you liked it, and anything else you would like to say. Thanks for reading!!!**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	14. Family Part 2

**Here's the next chapter. There's some more family in this one, and more of Fang's house. A little boring, but I really wanted to introduce the other sibling he has. So, hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. :)**

**Disclaimer: I am not a middle-aged man who made up the amazing idea to stick wings on kids' backs, so these are not my characters. (Except for the ones I made up)**

After meeting Fang's dad we grabbed a little muffin to share, since the cooks had shooed us out, and he started showing me around the rest of the house. He tore off little bits of the muffin and ate it as we walked up and down flights of stairs, and I tried to actually figure out how his house worked and where everything was, but I gave up after we passed the same identical- to me- hallway the third time. I just let Fang walk through his house with me tagging along. Although he would look back at me every few minutes or so, and he wouldn't let go of my hand. My arm was getting all tingly, and I was afraid that my hand was starting to get sweaty.

He lead me downstairs, first, to a room that seemed like a basement. It was dark, and had a certain moldy-ish smell to it, but it didn't seem like it was moldy at all. Then he turned on the light. Before us was a room with light grey walls, plush dark carpet, and a bunch of instruments all around. It was modern, with some posters around the room of various bands. There were guitars- acoustic and electric- and an electric piano in the corner, along with some microphones set up and amps scattered around the ground. There was a white and gray striped L couch in the far corner, across from a flat screen TV and surround sound system, and even a desk and a laptop as tiny as it could be in the corner. All around, it was an amazingly high-tech lounge room.

"Whoa. What _is _this room?" I asked, walking around a little.

"Our lounge. We come down here to play instruments, do homework, or just, well, lounge around. Pretty self-explanatory, don't you think, Max?" he gestured to the desk, instruments, and couch.

"Oh, right." I gave a little nervous laugh. He just smirked and motioned me to come back up the stairs with him, and shut off the lights as we walked out the door. I heard tiny footsteps down the hall, and Fang noticed too. We looked at each other, and I saw the slightest bit of worry flash through his eyes. He grabbed my hand, yet again, and started pulling me in the opposite direction of the steps. They seemed like they were tennis shoes, or at least not the stilettos LeAnn had been wearing, and they seemed lighter than his dad's had been. The footsteps got faster, and I heard someone call out.

"Drew? Drew, are you here?" it was a higher-pitched voice than I had heard earlier, and it sounded younger and less snobby than his other sister, so I assumed it to be the other sister he had spoken about. Fang mumbled something under his breath, and picked up his pace. His footsteps were almost silent, and so were mine, but I was curious as to whom this follower was, and I started stomping my feet a little harder than needed. Fang looked back and shot me a look that clearly said "Quit it!" but I kept stomping. The other voice started yelling.

"Drew, I know you're there, I can hear you! Now stop it and get back here!" Fang groaned and stopped, giving me a glare. I shrugged innocently, and he let go of my hand. A girl appeared behind us, coming around the corner we. She was shorter than me, probably about 5'2", and she had a certain happy quality about her. She was pretty, and was practically the spitting image of Fang, but in girl form. She was wearing simple blue jeans and a T-shirt advertising some volunteer thing, and plain white and green converse. Her eyes were lighter than Fang's, more of a lighter brown, and they were confused as she looked at me and Fang. "Hi, Drew. There you are. Who's your friend?" she asked curiously. She took a few steps closer to me and I noticed even more just how much she and Fang looked alike.

"I'm Max." I said, and calmly stuck my hand out to shake her's. It was soft and there were a few calluses on her palm, and she smiled warmly at me.

"Hey Max. I'm Evan, Drew's little sister." She said, then turned to her brother who was watching our exchange skeptically. "What are you doing home? I thought you had school today."

"I could ask you the same question, Evan." He said. She shrugged.

"I didn't hear my alarm go off and just decided to stay home. You didn't answer my question." She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned on her back leg. Now Fang shrugged.

"I had a… rough day yesterday. It was a long night. I didn't really feel like going to school." He shot me a little glance, and I could see the tiny uncomfortable twitch of his jaw. She looked at me, and I just shrugged. She snorted, trying to contain laughter.

"What kind of a hard night? That sounds a little suspicious, Drew. I mean, I heard the screaming. My room is only about four doors away." She said, matter-of-factly. Fang glared his signature death glare at her, and she held her hands up in surrender.

"It was not like that, okay? And, how do you even know what that means, Evan?" He asked, and she met his gaze fearlessly. She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm thirteen, genius. If I didn't know what that meant, my social life would be ruined. And, I would be considered a complete idiot. If that wasn't what, ahem, you were… doing, then what was it?" he narrowed his eyes at her, and she smirked.

"_Not_ that." I interjected. Both of their eyes flew to me. "Drew just had a bad nightmare all night, and I couldn't shut him up." I said, and Fang glared at me.

"Why were you here all night?" she asked. I looked at Fang, and he shrugged one shoulder. I looked back at his sister.

"Because she's my best friend, Evan. No other reason needed." He said, giving her a "Drop it" look. She raised an eyebrow, silently communicating something with him, and then shrugged.

"Whatever you say. So, have you eaten breakfast yet, Max?" she turned to me. I shook my head, since I was still hungry from the tiny muffin. "Well, let's eat then." she turned, and started walking the other direction that she had come in. My brow furrowed, and I shot Fang a "Huh?" look. He shrugged again and started walking, and I followed him. His sister walked really fast, and she had a certain strut about her that showed she was used to being in charge of things. Funny, because she was the youngest. Unless Fang was keeping another sibling from me. She kept her chin high and her back straight, trying to walk as fast as she could. She seemed about as arrogant as LeAnn, but not as snotty. She was probably nice if I got to know her, but compared to her brother they were nothing alike.

I followed them through the same maze Fang had been dragging me in all day, and I tried yet again to memorize the seemingly endless hallways to no avail. Finally we came to the same door Fang had dragged me to earlier, where we had met his father. She glanced over her shoulder, then pushed through the doors. The cooks were still mulling around, and they all looked at us as we entered, but quickly looked away when Evan gave them a look. Then she turned back to us with a sweet smile on her face, and waved her hand around the kitchen.

"Go ahead and choose whatever you want. I think the strudels are the best, but they can also make crepes and waffles, and tons of other stuff if you want." She turned to a chef and mumbled something to him. He nodded eagerly and started making something in a pan, and it looked like a pancake with some sort of filling. Strudel, as she had said. I looked around the kitchen and saw a few of the chefs looking at us expectantly, waiting for an order.

"Um… waffles?" I said, but it was more like a question. One of them nodded and grabbed a waffle-maker, and mixed up some batter. I turned around and saw Fang talking with one of them, and he kept glancing over at me a few times, then the chef nodded and backed off.

"Miss, would you like some fruit on your waffles?" The chef who had started making my waffles asked, and I nodded.

"Strawberries, please. If you have any, that is." I said. I was acting shyer than usual, and it sort of scared me. Why was I acting shy? It was my best friend's house. Well, his mansion, really.

My waffles were done, and there was another pair of waffles with bananas on it that was set next to mine a few seconds after. Before I could grab mine Fang snatched both of them and grinned at me, then motioned for me to follow him again. I rolled my eyes but followed him anyways. He walked through a door behind a corner I hadn't seen, and into a giant dining room that was, yet again, made of marble and gold. _I wonder just how expensive this room alone would cost… _I thought. There was a long dark wooded table in the middle, with multiple chairs sitting around it. Evan was already sitting at an end chair and digging into her strudel, and didn't even budge when the door opened. She was starting to bug me a little, and her quiet snottiness was annoying. But I didn't really have to worry about her much, since Fang sat at the other end of the table and set my waffles on the opposite side of his. He pulled out my chair and let me sit down, like the perfect gentleman again, and I gave him a weird look as he sat down.

"You know, you never answered my question yesterday. Why didn't you tell me you lived in a place like this?" I questioned, remembering. I looked down at the waffles on my plate with strawberries in the red syrup, and tried to remember what fork to use from the very few times I had been to a fancy restaurant. Fang noticed my confused look and helpfully supplied "Start from the farthest out, Max," before grabbing his fork and digging in. I grabbed the farthest fork and used the side to cute the waffle, and practically melted as the taste of the waffles and strawberries filled my mouth. It was very sweet, just how I like it, and the strawberries didn't overcome the waffle, but they were still very prominent. It was the best waffle I had ever tasted. Fang smirked, then continued eating.

"Like the waffles?" He asked smugly. I nodded, and stuffed another bite into my mouth.

"You still didn't answer my question, Fang."

He sighed, and shrugged. "I didn't think I needed to. It's not relevant to anything, so why does it matter?"

"It does matter, a lot. I need to know if you'll tell me everything, especially now." I gave him a look, silently telling him that I meant the whole wing situation. He just shrugged again. I saw his sister look up curiously, but I ignored it.

"It's really just not a big deal, Max. Come on, it's a house. It's not like I won't tell you if I'm hurt or anything, because I would." He told me, focusing on his waffle.

"Fang, if you kept something like this from me, why wouldn't you keep that from me, too?" I asked quietly, and I knew his sister wouldn't hear it, and I let my eyes soften. He put his fork down and looked up at me, searching my eyes for something. He looked disappointed, and I saw his shoulders move as he took a deep breath.

"You know I wouldn't keep something important like that from you, Max." he said in an equally quiet voice, giving me a hard look. I suddenly felt bad for accusing him of not telling me something important, and looked back down at the waffles. My appetite was gone, but I started to eat them again anyways just to give me something to keep my eyes away from Fang's.

"Sorry." I mumbled. "I didn't mean it like that. I was just being paranoid." I admitted, and saw him nod as I looked up from under my lashes. After that we were both silent, until his little sister slammed down her fork and sat back roughly. We both looked at her sharply, surprised at the sudden outburst.

"What is wrong with you two? I mean, first you're all joking with each other and Drew was being the perfect gentleman, then you start whispering and everything gets all awkward. What kind of a couple _are_ you?" she demanded.

"We are not a couple!" we both shouted at the same time, then looked at each other and away quickly. His sister smirked.

"See? So cute. You guys really are the perfect couple. If you say you aren't, though, I'll believe you. But, I highly doubt it." She said. "And the way he looks at you, Max, I can see that Drew really likes you. And vice versa." She stated, looking at me and then Fang. My mouth dropped open wide and I felt the color rush to my cheeks, and Fang mimicked me. I could see the faintest color coming to his cheeks as he glared at his sister, who only shrugged in a "Sorry, it's true," sort of way. Fang _never_ blushed. I looked between them, then Evan grabbed her plate and strutted out before Fang strangled her. It was completely silent until the door shut, and I cleared my throat. Talk about awkward.

"Well, that was awkward." He said, practically reading my mind. I scoffed, agreeing. "Just don't listen to anything my sister says. It's mostly just stuff she hears from her friends."

"Mhmm." I nodded absently, finishing off my waffles quickly and grabbing the plate to bring back to the kitchen. I walked into an empty room, and just set it on the counter because I didn't know what to do with it. Fang came in a minute later, set his plate on the counter, and I made a split decision to do something. I grabbed his hand, and he gave me a surprised look. "Do you have a backyard here?" I asked, not trusting myself to try and find it and end up getting us lost, and he nodded. "Let's go. I think I'll teach you how to fly." I smiled at him, and he grinned back and pulled me through the door.

**Sorry this took me so long to update. I could never find the time to finish it. Hope you like it! Review, and tell me how it is. I sure love those reviews!!:) ****And happy Valentine's day everyone!:)**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	15. Just Dandy

**I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've just been really busy lately. We wrapped up our basketball season, I have play practice, friends, and other stuff to worry about. I haven't really had any time to update, and I really hope I can change this update every other or so weekend. Again, I am so sorry for not updating lately. I'll try to make it up to you, everybody, so I'll make this a really long chapter. And by the way, the bird mentioned, is actually real. I heard one today, and it is the weirdest sounding thing I have ever heard. It looked like a raven but it had a tuft of hair under it's chin, and it sounded weird. **

As soon as Fang pushed open the door to the outside, I sighed in relief. I had been expecting something amazing- I wasn't so sure how much more of that I could take. Something that could have been out of a fairy tale book, with all the hedges and fountains and perfectly cut grass that you could see in almost any movie about a princess and a castle. But instead of all that, all that was there was just the perfectly cut grass and tall trees surrounding the edges. Even though it was simple, it was still stunning. There were multi-colored poppies and tulips under the trees around the edge, along with bushes that were so perfectly cut I thought they were plastic. Birches, maples, and almost any tree I could think of was right there, some even had fruit growing on them. Even the sheer size was amazing. It was the biggest single piece of grass I had ever seen, period. I looked at Fang.

"This yard is amazing." I stated. He shook his head at me.

"You think everything around here is amazing, Max. It's getting a little old, if you ask me."

"Well, nobody asked you. And it's only because everything in your house _is_ amazing, Fang." I said, and walked out into the middle of the yard. The trees seemed tall enough to hide us for a little while, but not enough for us to fly around much. Maybe if we booked it out of here fast enough, we could fly around high for a while and get used to it. But first Fang needed to learn how to fly. I turned back to him as he raised an eyebrow at me. "You need to learn how to fly, but we don't have much space here. We have to get you in the air, and then we can fly around for a while. We need to be really careful and make sure nobody sees us, or else we're screwed. So, once you get in the air, fly out as fast as you can and as high as you think people can't see you. Alright?" he nodded, and I saw his jaw clench a little in anticipation. "Okay, open your wings all the way." He complied, and his deep black wings glinted in the sun, looking almost purple. "Now follow my lead, and make sure you don't hit the trees." he nodded again, and I turned around and opened my wings. It felt nice to let them out, and the slight breeze ruffled the feathers into place. It was still a little odd to think about having these wings sticking out of my own back.

I took another glance around the yard to make sure nobody was peeking through windows, and started running. I ran to the edge of the yard and jumped, staying clear of the treetops, and I pumped my wings up and down to stay aloft. When I was high enough I turned around and looked down at Fang, giving him the signal to go. He nodded and I saw him hesitate a little, then he started to run. He took off about as perfect as he could possibly be, a perfect example. _Why does he have to do everything right? _I thought, before I could stop myself. I immediately felt my cheeks heat up a little, and hoped he couldn't see it. I saw Fang falter in his rhythm for a moment, then he got his balance and sped up. Finally he reached the hight I was at. He was breathing hard, his cheeks were red, and his hair was windblown. I couldn't help but realize just how adorable he looked right then. I blushed even more.

"Something wrong?" he asked, eyeing my cheeks.

"Juss' cold, that's all." I shrugged it off like it as nothing. "That was an amazing takeoff, by the way."

He smirked. "Thanks. So, where do you want to go?" he looked around and took in the height we were at, and I saw his eyes widen a fraction.

I shrugged. "We can go anywhere. We can just fly around until we find somewhere to land." He nodded, and started flying in a random direction away from his house. From up here, it seemed even bigger than it did on the inside. It was still amazingly huge, but I felt a little less intimidated by it from way up here. I felt like it could have swallowed me up if it wanted to, but now that I was up here, it was powerless. I smirked and followed Fang. We flew in silence for about ten minutes, and I could easily tell Fang loved every second he spent flying up here. And so did I.

I spotted a little clearing of trees below us, and noticed a little trail running through it. Running next to it was also a stream, and I saw a few tiny waterfalls. There was a clearing at the beginning of the trail, and that was enough space for us to land- if we were careful.

"Hey Fang!" I called, and his head whipped around. His hair blew in his face and I saw his eyes, so full of happiness that I smiled at him. He smiled a heart-shattering one back. "There's a path down there, want to land?"

He shrugged. Or as much as he could while flying. "Sure." He nodded for me to go down, and I tucked in my wings and let myself freefall, relishing that feeling. I snapped my wings out when I was close enough and softly tried to swoop down. I landed close to the other side of the clearing, but I didn't fall on my face, so that was good. I left my wings out for them to cool down, and turned to watch Fang. He pulled in his wings like I had, and I watched him shoot like a bullet through the sky. He shot out his wings around the same place I probably did, and he floated down almost perfectly. He looked almost like he had done this a million times before, it was so perfect. It made me feel so horrible at taking off and landing that I almost wanted to put a bag over my face in shame.

He landed and walked over to me, sighing in relief. "That was awesome." He said, smiling. My heart thudded in my chest as I just smiled at him.

"Come on, let's check this out. It looks like a pretty cool trail." The path was bark chip covered, and it winded through the trees. The sun was coming through the trees and highlighting certain areas of the path, and the stream along the side was shallow and clear, with colorful rocks and tiny fish swimming in it. Why was everything starting to look like it was out of a fairytale?

A bird started calling in the woods somewhere, and it was a call I had never heard before.

_Gloo-o-o-o-goo… gloo-o-o-o-goo…_ it was a deep, throaty sound, and it wasn't very loud. I looked to try and locate the bird, but there was nothing.

Fang nudged my shoulder. "I'll race ya." He joked.

"You're on." I responded. "Ready to be beat by a girl?"

He snorted. "I highly doubt it." He stopped, and put up his closed fist. I stopped with him and waited for him to start counting. "3, 2, 1… go!" we both shot off, running as fast as we could, and we were evenly matched. Until he started getting ahead of me. Soon, he was almost two feet ahead of me, and I decided to take a little shortcut. I turned and cut through the woods, on a tiny clearing of trees that looked promising. I heard Fang yell my name at one point, but I ignored it and carried on. My heart was pumping steadily in my chest and my legs were starting to get tired, and I was starting to wonder if this "short cut" was really a good idea. Suddenly, ahead of me, was a clearing. It was wide and open, with absolutely nothing in the center. It was a perfectly circular, and it was a little eery. I slowed down and stopped, looking around. It was extremely quiet, until that weird bird call shot through the air.

_Gloo-o-o-o-goo… gloo-o-o-o-goo… _it was incredibly creepy, and I knew something was off. I really wanted to just take off and get out of here, but something in the back of my mind told me to stay put. I listened as closely as I could, and I thought I could hear the slight buzz of an electric fence. Why would there be an electric fence in the middle of the woods?

I heard a twig snap behind me, and spun around. There was nothing there. another twig snapped on the other side, and another, and another. I spun around slowly, trying to find something to prove myself that I really wasn't going insane, but there was still nothing. My heart was thudding harder than it had when I was running, and I had to admit that I was getting a little worried. Where was Fang? What was with the twigs? Where was I? What was happening?

"Hello, Max." a voice boomed, coming from nowhere. It was a guy's, but I had never heard it before. I spun around wildly, trying to find a speaker or something that could give me a hint to something. Anything. "I see you've made it, right on schedule."

"What? Who are you? What are you talking about?" I yelled to wherever this voice was. It chuckled.

"Didn't your mother tell you?" My mom? What did she have to do with this?

"Tell me what?" I demanded. It was silent for a few seconds.

"Well, I guess I'll have to tell you then. Max, you know you are special. You are not like any other person in the world." It started. _No, Fang has wings, too_. I wanted to say, but I thought I should see if he knew that himself and possibly keep Fang out of danger. "You were created for a purpose, and that is something that is beginning right now. It is a special program that was shaped specifically around you, and what you will choose to do. You are the leader, Max. The entire Itex corporation is about to become much more powerful with you leading it, defeating every other company and ruling this nation. We will destroy all of the unneeded wimps and worthless trash in this country." By the end he was getting really passionate about his speech, and he was talking faster and louder.

"And what if I don't want to have any part of this? What if you have the wrong person?"

He chuckled, low and deep, and I knew this was a really bad situation I was in. There was no way out. "Oh, Max. You are so naive. You see, you have no choice in this Max. Your decision has no effect on what will happen, because it has already been made for you. Now, do you chose to cooperate, or must we make you cooperate?"

The buzzing increased, more twigs snapped, and the bird called again. I shivered, actually- though I hate to admit it- scared, of whatever was happening. I twirled around in circles trying to find some way out, but there was absolutely nothing. I saw something flit between the trees, and more started to appear and disappear. They ran between the trees so fast they were almost invisible, but I could see the outline of them. The creatures weren't human, but they weren't completely animal, either. I saw a bit of fur, and they walked on two legs. They were huge, with bulging muscles; I could even see it from here.

My heart was thumping so hard I could hear it in my head, and feel my blood pulsing throughout my entire body. Adrenaline tingled all over my body, and I could barley think straight.

So, being in the state I was in, I did something extremely stupid. I jumped high and snapped out my wings, not thinking about the electric fence. I barely got off the ground when the creatures from the woods ran out in perfect synchronization, and I saw that they were the wolfish things my mom had told me about. That just made my heart beat faster, if that was possible. I looked up and saw something shimmer, and then a piercing pain hit my body. I shrieked, surprised, and did a back flip, falling through the air. I wasn't that high off the ground, but I was high enough to have the wind knocked completely out of me as I hit the ground on my back.

As I tried to catch my breath my vision started to black out in the corners, and I saw a wolfish face peek into the corner of my eye. It was completely hideous, with a snout and large, yellow fangs, and it was smiling menacingly at me. Others peeked in, and they all started cackling. Then the bird called again, through everything, and I thought I heard the voice boom a sigh. The last thing I saw as I passed out was a big claw pressing something to my face, and something smelled, and then I was completely out.

Fang's POV

So, Max and I decided to race. I was the best runner in my class, but Max wasn't in that class. That was one of the few she wasn't in. I knew I could run extremely fast, now probably even more because of the new bird genes, but then Max started to keep up with me. We were even for a while, until she decided to take a little detour. She had cut through the woods with ease, hopping off easily. I had just pushed my legs harder to beat her, since I was always a sore loser. But, then I couldn't find her. I knew I should have seen her through the woods, or heard her footsteps with my new hearing, but there was nothing. Not the crack of a twig, not a breath, not a flash of her clothes, nothing. The only thing I could hear was the coo of a strange bird. There was nothing that even remotely advertised any life, either, besides the fish and the sound of the bird. Hm. I knew Max wasn't stupid, and I knew she wasn't lost, because I had a mental compass that I knew came with the bird package.

So, I stopped. I listened as hard as I could, and I even went as far as to close my eyes and focus on just hearing. Absolutely nothing.

The bird cooed again, sending a shiver down my spine. I looked around, but there was still nothing there. I walked down the path we had just come from, and tried to find the trees Max had escaped through. Most of them looked the same, but I finally found the area with her footsteps leading away. I followed them as best as I could and, get this, even trying to follow her scent. And, it worked. Just a little bit, but I could still smell that sweet scent that was always just _her_. Weird, right? I guess that's just me and my love for my friends.

Suddenly, I heard something off to my left. It was the densest part of the forest, as far as I could tell, and I thought I saw a little clearing up ahead. But, around that, I saw something that looked like a metal wire. I tilted my head back and forth, and the wire was showing on when I looked from one angle, but gone on the next. Disappearing wire. And from the faint buzzing, it was electric. Then, something ran through the trees in front of me. It wasn't paying any attention to me; it was focused on something in the middle of the clearing.

The thing was like a giant man with extremely hairy arms, and extremely hairy everything else. It had an absolutely horrid looking face, if you could even call it that. It had a large wolf muzzle implanted on its face, and it looked like it had just been sewed on by a five year old. It was large and muscular, and it had drool dripping down it's chin that was of the yellowish/green color. It had on torn up jeans that had been turned into shorts and were covered in dirt and some unknown substance. I caught a whiff of it as it passed by, and let me tell you, I was about to barf.

Then, I noticed her. She was spinning around in circles in the clearing, and I could barely make her out through the trees. But it was definitely her. She looked scared, something I had never seen before, but she was trying to hide it. I saw her lips move, like she was talking to somebody, but I couldn't see or hear anybody else. I wanted to figure out what was making her so freaked, but I didn't want to risk getting shocked by the invisible fence and possibly putting us both in danger from the creatures.

Another one ran by me, staring at Max, and my fists clenched just thinking about somebody hurting Max. If anyone even thought about it, I would take them down. I felt adrenaline pumping through my veins, and my heart was beating fast.

Suddenly, Max whipped out her beautiful brown-and-white speckled wings, jumping into the air forcefully and trying to get in the air. But whoever was organizing this shenanigan had thought of our wings, and had probably set up more of the invisible wire, since Max shrieked and did a flip in the air, landing on her back with an audible_ oof_. I could even hear it from here. I immediately took a step forward, planning to run to her rescue and get her out of there, but a creature ran in front of me again and brought me back to my senses. It cackled like an evil maniac, which it probably was. I swear I even saw it lick its lips.

I stayed where I was, and was practically in physical pain as I watched Max roll around on the ground and tried to catch her breath. I heard the electric fences short out and everything go silent, then a few snarls and twigs snapping like crazy. About twenty of the creatures ran from the woods, hovering around Max. They circled her and looked like they were about to eat her, and I was tempted again to run in and get Max out of there. But if I did, I could most likely put both of us in danger, and I didn't know if they were going to take her anywhere, but if they did, I had to be able to save her somehow. I could follow them to wherever they took her, then come back and get help.

The strange bird cooed again, and I thought I heard something sigh, but I wasn't sure with the blood pumping in my ears.

So, even though it pained me to watch this, I had to stay. I felt my fingernails dig into my palms my fists were clenched so hard. I took a few steps sideways and hid behind a tree, my dark clothes blending in almost perfectly. I saw one of them put some cloth over her face, and her body went limp. My entire body was tense. Another one put a black bag over her head and lifted her up over its shoulder. It took all my willpower not to run out there and kick its butt so hard it wished it was never… made. Some of them were following the one who was carrying her like a small lamb that was being carried to the slaughter house to be prepared for dinner.

I shivered at that thought, and immediately wished I hadn't thought it. I snuck through the trees after them, silently, and none of them suspected a thing. They were too busy checking out Max. My jaw clenched.

Up ahead, I saw them heading towards a larger clearing than the other one with parked chopper that's blades were starting to spin, which mad the trees around it sway. The creatures were laughing as they entered the open door, dropping Max down like she was a sack of potatoes. I flinched.

When the chopper took off I waited a few minutes until it was almost out of sight, and decided to follow it. I took off like Max had shown me, careful of the trees, and headed in the direction of the chopper which was just about an inch big speck in the sky.

I sighed. This was going to be a long flight.

**There! I made it as long as I could, to make up for my lack of updating. I'm super sorry about that. I have the rest of this week and all next week off for spring break, so I'll be sure to update at least once. I really hope I can update more than that, though. So, any ideas or feedback, please feel free to review. Anonymous reveiws welcome! Anything is welcome! Flames, criticism, etc. **

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	16. The School, and Lucas

**Ok, here's another chapter everybody. I know I need to get the rest of the flock into this story, but that will come soon. Maybe even in this chapter, I'm not sure. But they'll get there. I still need a few ideas for later on, but I haven't gotten much feedback. Anybody is welcome to give ideas, any idea is welcome. Please feel free to say anything. I'm off of school this week and next week for spring break, and I hope I can update a few more times to make up for not updating for about a month. Sorry about that. **

**Now, to the story.**

**Disclaimer: JP IS THE AMAZING AUTHOR OF MAXIMUM RIDE, NOT ME.**

The first thing I was aware of was this: everything hurt. I felt like my head was a bowling ball, my arms felt like 25 lb. weights, and I could barely even feel my legs they felt so heavy. My ribs were definitely bruised- maybe even broken- my stomach growled and was twisted with hunger, my cheek felt swollen, and I could feel various cuts and bruises on my body.

I was laying on something that was cold and hard, but it wasn't like a concrete floor. It seemed like a little bed that was made of just metal springs, with no sheets or any sort of bedspread to make it softer. It felt almost like a chain link fence, and I thought I would have tiny squares all over my back.

I tried to roll over, make myself more comfortable since I was laying on my wings and they were getting chafed, but I felt like I was glued to it.

I groaned and eventually got my eyes open. I was in a small white room, probably only about nine feet on each side. A very small room. I noticed another cot on the other side of the room, and it was definitely made out of chicken wire, and it had a slight dent in the middle of it that showed it had been used a lot. I blinked a few times and tried to take a deep breath, but I gagged on the air. It smelled like antiseptic and chemicals. I had always hated doctors' offices, but I hated the smell even more. This room smelled like someone had opened an antiseptic bottle and just dumped everything all over the walls, with the worst part right under my nose. I managed to move my hand over my mouth and breathe through my fingers to somewhat cover the stench. I coughed and tried to keep the smell out as much as I could.

I finally managed to sit up, only to almost fall down again by surprise. Sitting against the other side of the room against the wall, was a boy. He seemed around my age, with sandy brown hair and deep blue eyes, and he was extremely cute. Almost like he had just been plucked out of one of Nikki and Jaz's magazines, with all the movie stars they swooned over all the time. He was staring at me, with curiosity plain in his amazing eyes. He had his knees up to his chest with his arms loosely hanging over them, wearing a white T-shirt and white pants, completely sterile.

He smirked at me and then looked down to his hands, breaking the stare contest we were apparently having. I coughed and looked down at myself, noticing I was wearing the same sterile fabric but it was in a dress form instead. Great. I felt a little better now that I had moved, and the smell was starting to fade as my nose got used to it. I had a few itchy wool blankets on my legs, wondering why I had two instead of just one.

"I didn't need mine." I looked up at the boy again, and he was watching me intently. His voice was deep and smooth. Sadly to say, it was a voice that I could listen to for hours. What was wrong with me? I never felt anything like this for anyone in such a short time. I blamed it on the chemicals.

"Oh. Um, thanks." He nodded, keeping eye contact. I broke it, then pushed the wool blankets off my legs and shivered when the cold hit my legs. I stretched my arms and moved my legs off the bed, the cot way too uncomfortable. The white dress came to a little above my knees, making me extremely uncomfortable with a guy in the room. I tried to pull it down, but it was being extremely stubborn and didn't go anywhere. I huffed. "Where am I?"

He stood up. He was about six inches taller than me, and a little taller than Fang was. He gave me a knowing look. "_We_ are at the School, in Death Valley, California. A place where they test you, run you, and experiment on you until you either die, or are too sick to do anything, so they put you in the field to let the Erasers finish you off."

I fell back onto the cot in surprise, then straightened back up as the metal "springs" poked me. I knew it was coming, but I had just hoped it wasn't real. That it was all just a dream. But now that was blown out of the water. I took a deep breath and ignored the sting of chemicals, trying to stop the tears that pricked at the back of my eyes. I would not cry in front of this guy. I wouldn't cry in front of anyone. Especially if that's what they wanted to happen. "Oh." I squeaked.

"You okay?" he took a step towards me and held out his hand, then let it fall back to his side uselessly. He actually looked worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just… it's all…" I sighed and shook my head. "Too much." He nodded in agreement, and then held out his hand to me.

"I'm Lucas. You are?" he looked at me evenly, watching me carefully.

"Max. Why are you here? What's different about you?" I asked. I purposely didn't shake his hand, because I didn't want to see what happened if I touched him.

He sighed and dropped his hand again, then slid down the wall again. He wouldn't look in my eyes again. I guess I sort of missed the deep blue, then shook my head. I slowly sat down on the wool blankets, making sure to not get poked by the cot. He sighed heavily, deep in thought. What was wrong?

"I don't like to talk about it, Max. That's the first thing you should know about me." He ran a hand through his oily hair. I wondered if mine was the same way, and if the scientists even cared at all. I doubted it.

"Alright, I'll remember that. How long have you been here?"

"As long as I can remember, really. I've never had much of a memory of this place, though. Nothing up until about two years ago. I just assume that it's all the drugs they test on us, that it affects our memory somehow. I know how long you've been here, but what's your story?"

"How long have I been here?" I asked.

"About two days, give or take a few hours. Hard to tell when there aren't any windows in here. All there is to go by time wise is what they bring you for food. You've been out for most of the time, though." He smirked to himself, thinking of something.

"How did I get so… beat up?" I asked, rubbing a sore bruise on my arm. It felt like someone had hit me with a club.

"You woke up when they dumped you here, and started thrashing around everywhere. They had to knock you out by force just to get you to stay in the room. It was crazy. You just started punching everyone you saw, and you actually broke a few of the white coat's noses. You have a pretty wicked punch, I have to say." He rubbed his shoulder, and I guessed I had punched him. Whoops. I gave him a little apologetic smile, and he shrugged the shoulder that he wasn't rubbing.

"I don't remember anything, other than getting captured, then waking up here." My voice faltered when I said captured, and I wondered just where Fang was and if he had been taken, too. It would have been really nice if he was there to talk to, just to see a familiar face.

"Do you love him?" Lucas asked, and my jaw dropped a little bit. What was that supposed to mean?

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you love him? That Fang guy, you thought about. You seem really worried about him." He looked me right in the eye, completely serious. Then what he said hit me.

"You can read minds." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. All the proof was in what he had just said. I had seen people who could read minds in movies, and all that junk, but I never thought it was actually possible. Yet, I never thought I would have wings on my back and be trapped in a place where people ran tests on mutants, either. I purposely avoided the question he was asking, plus I was too surprised to even think about an answer to that.

Lucas looked down at the ground, embarrassed. "Uh, yeah. It's one of my… powers. Most of the experiments have them, depending on what their genes are." He shrugged. "I guess it's just something that happens, and the whack jobs can't do anything to prevent it. You'll probably find out you have them soon, if you don't have them already."

Geez. Now there're powers involved? This just keeps getting more and more strange, like in some fiction flick you would find in theatres. I sighed, wishing this was all just some crazy dream and I would wake up soon. I was even tempted to pinch myself.

Lucas was still looking at the ground thoughtfully, and I noticed a small crease in his forehead. Worry?

He looked back to my eyes, then his eyes flicked around the room so fast I could barely see them. He turned his head towards the almost invisible door I hadn't seen, and I noticed it didn't have a handle on this side. I looked at him quizzically, but he just stared at the door. I couldn't hear anything, or see anything, since there was no window. Still he stared. Suddenly, I heard footsteps outside the door. Had he known someone was coming? Had he heard that before even I had, with my new hearing? Wow.

He stood up quickly, then took a few strides and grabbed my arm to pull me up. My nerves immediately felt like they burst into flames at his touch. I was so surprised that my knees couldn't hold me up for a second, and Lucas had to grab my waist to keep me from collapsing.

Sadly, as soon as he had touched my waist, the door just had to open. A woman in a white lab coat, black pencil skirt and blouse, and high pumps, with light brown hair in a tight bun, appeared in the doorway. She had a skeptical look on her face, which suddenly turned to an evil smirk when she caught sight of our position.

Awkward, much? Nah.

She cleared her throat as Lucas let go of me, then he stood up straight and put both hands clasped together in front of him. He looked like a military captain, standing tensely and staring straight ahead. I just stood still, leaning on one leg with my arms crossed, staring at her evenly as she was looking back and forth between us. Her eyes settled on Lucas.

"Well, subject twelve, I see you've met subject one." Lucas's jaw tightened, and he nodded tensely. I glared at the lady.

"I have a name, you know." I growled. Her gaze flitted to me, and her eyes turned hostile.

"You will not speak unless you are told to speak, or have been asked to answer something. Other than that, you stay quiet." She snarled back.

"And what if I don't?" I challenged. I thought I saw Lucas gulp out of the corner of my eye.

"Then you, and you roommate, will be punished to the fullest extent we can manage without killing you. Or, we could just throw you in the field with the Erasers and see how well you two fare." She seemed to be playing around with those ideas, and that just made her extremely sick and twisted in my eyes. I sort of got the idea she would do that for anything we did, if it didn't fit her standards. I stayed silent, just to make her think she won. She smiled pleasantly, like she hadn't just threatened anyone's life. "Wonderful. Now that we have an understanding, I would like you to come with me, subject one. We need to run a few tests on you." She looked down at the clipboard she held in her hands, which I hadn't seen before since it was almost invisible against her suit.

She probably expected me to follow her like a lost puppy, but I just stayed put and raised my eyebrow at her, showing my defiance. Her fist clenched at her side, and her teeth grinded together. She probably wasn't used to being disobeyed.

"I said, come with me." She growled. Lucas nudged my shoulder, and my heart jumped at the slight touch. I was still confused as to why that was happening. I still blamed the antiseptics.

"Go, Max." he murmured out of the side of his mouth, barely visible. I sighed, dramatically, and took a few steps forward. The woman grabbed my arm and pulled me close to her face, her grip almost cutting off the circulation in my arm. She looked like she was about to kill me.

"Listen to me, you worthless experiment. You will do what you are told, and you will not fight it. If you do, you will be exterminated like the vermin you all are!" she spat at me. I wrinkled my nose and yanked my arm away from her, crossing my arms again.

"Well excuse me, then. Remind me to read the rule book next time." She hissed a breath through her teeth, and I tried to hide a smirk. This lady had some issues. She grabbed my arm tightly, with her perfectly manicured nails digging into the skin of my arm below my dress sleve, and practically dragged me down the hall, slamming the door to my cell shut behind her and scanning her ID card. I tried memorizing the hallways, but after a few I got lost. They all looked exactly the same, and I wondered how the scientists got around.

She dragged me into a room with C 148 printed on a plastic plaque to the right of the door. It was a small white room, like my cell, but a few feet bigger. Inside was a table that I had seen at my mom's work the few times she had taken me with her, an all metal one that they put the animals on for surgery and checkups. There was a smaller rolling table with scalpels and syringes filled with different colored liquids and even a gas mask. There were a few other scientists in white lab coats around the table, with masks around their necks, and they smiled happily when I was shoved into the room. But it wasn't happy, like if you had gotten something you really wanted. It was scary happy, the smile when you know you can do whatever you want because you know nobody can catch you doing it, and you get away with everything.

My heart jumped. What were they planning on doing here? Were they going to test me like some deranged animal that was sick, like my mom did? But my mom was nice- she cared about the animals, and would never do anything to hurt them on purpose. These people… they looked like they would purposely try something horrible on me, just to see me squirm around helplessly.

Yeah, like I would let them do that.

**Duh-duh-dunn….**

**I hope you liked it! Sorry I didn't update more than this, like I was planning to. I was gone half the week and I didn't have internet the other half. So, this is a long chapter to make up for it. I'll try to be better about updating at least once a week. Give me a few extra reviews, and I might even make it sooner…? **

**Review, please! Much loved!**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


	17. All Taken

**And to answer a review I got last time I updated, yes, emotionalpoemgirl, Lucas is sort of based off of Dylan. But I already had the idea for him before I read Fang, and that part of the chapter was already written when I read it.**

**So, here is the new chapter. Enjoy!**

"Hey, Max, wake up. Dinner time." I was shaken awake by a voice I didn't recognize, which immediately shot adrenaline through my veins. My eyes shot open and I jumped up, thrusting my hand up into whoever had woke me up and feeling hot flesh connect with my fist. "Ah! Dangit, Max, what the-_Sheesh_!"

I looked over to see Lucas with his hand to his chin, and he was glaring at me.

"Oops. Sorry. Old habits die hard…" I bit my lip to keep from laughing as I tried to put an innocent look on my face. It was pretty funny to see his face, especially the already bruising spot on his jaw. "Did I hear you say something about food?"

"Yeah, we got a special delivery today." He had a sour look on his face, and he held up a tray with every section filled with some greenish/brown muck that looked almost like they scraped algae off the bottom of a pond. "Extra slop, for our amazingly cooperative new bird girl." He gave me a long, knowing look as he spoke. I winced, wondering how he had known what I did. "When we cooperate with them and act like their little lab rats, they give us some stale bread and milk. When we don't, well, this is what they give." He said, reading my mind.

"Oh. Umm, sorry." I murmured. He sighed, and then sat down on his cot across from mine.

"It's not your fault. They shouldn't make that stupid rule. But, we shouldn't be here, either. I guess it's just their way of making us cooperate. Obviously, we try to, because this," he pointed to the slop, "Doesn't seem very appetizing. If you want some, dig in." Lucas held the tray out to me with an eyebrow raised. I scrunched up my nose and shook my head. Next, it was slid across the floor and slammed against the wall with a metallic _PING_. The mush barely moved. I shivered. Did anybody actually _eat_ that?

I noticed I was rubbing my arm, and looked down to see three pink dots in my elbow. Had they taken blood from me? Injected me with something? Put a microscopic tracker in my arm?

I shivered again at the last one. They couldn't have done that. It was too creepy. Why would they even bother with it? They already had me trapped in here like a caged bird (No pun intended).

"Because you're valuable to them, Max. You were the first truly successful experiment, and they don't want to lose you again. They've already lost you twice, apparently. At least that's what I've heard…" he looked down at his hands, as if ashamed.

"Twice? I thought my mom had only taken me from here when I was born…"

He shrugged again. "I don't know. But they thought about how they had already lost you twice before, and they didn't want to lose you again."

_So they did put a tracker in me._ It wasn't a question. My gaze locked on his and I waited for him to confirm it.

He nodded slowly. I blew out the breath I didn't know I was holding. So I had a tracker in my arm. I couldn't go anywhere without these creeps knowing. I couldn't go to the_ bathroom_ without them knowing.

Lucas chuckled at that. "Max, they put trackers in everybody now. After they lost all their most precious experiments, they kicked up the security and started to put trackers in everybody."

"Wait, you said experiments. As in plural. Are there more of my… kind?" I asked. Of course, there was Fang and the others, but I was testing him to see if the scientists ever thought about the others. I was careful to keep my thoughts guarded from him. Lucas looked like he was concentrating hard on something, and eventually nodded. My heart sunk.

"Yeah. It sounds like… five more. And… that some of them are changing right now…" his eyes closed as he listened. Was somebody watching them? Making them change? I got goose bumps to think of whom it was who was changing and if they would get caught or not.

"Have they caught any more of them?" I asked, barely above a whisper because my throat was getting tight. Maximum Ride did _not _cry, and she especially wouldn't do it in front of this strangely gorgeous boy who she barely knew. I choked down the cotton in my throat.

Lucas opened his eyes and looked at me, face unreadable. "Yes. They're getting here now."

Fang POV

First, I went to Angel's house. I dropped down at the end of her street where there was a bit of forest. As I approached the house, I heard somebody yelling. My heart jumped, pumping adrenaline through my veins. I was on the front walkway in seconds.

Before I could even knock the door opened, and Angel's father's face looked at me, eyes and mouth wide.

"Drew. What are you doing here?" he gasped. Behind him came a wimper of agony. My chest clenched.

"Sir, I think I have an idea to what is happening to Ang-" before I finished the name I was in the house and being pulled into Angel's room so fast I didn't even get to look around me.

When we entered Ange's room she was laying on her pink bed in a twisted form, curled in a fetal position with sweat on every inch of open skin.

Angel sucked in a shuddered breath. "Fa-a-AAAHHHGGG!" her back arched backwards, and her eyes shut in pain. I ran over to her, putting my hand on her forehead. She felt like there was a fire inside her. It sent a shiver through me to remember how it felt.

I turned to her father, who stood in the doorway with tears in his eyes. "Get me a cold washcloth. And I mean_ ice_ cold." Weird. My voice even _felt_ ice cold.

His eyes met mine. "What's happening?" there was something in those dark eyes that told me he knew, but he didn't want to accept it was real.

"She's growing wings."

Behind me Angel gasped, making me whip around to her. Blond wet curls framed her innocent face, and her bright blue eyes were as wide as dinner plates. And they were _scared_. So scared, in fact, that I wanted to run back to the school and punish everybody who had a part in making this happen. In making _us_.

_3 hours later_

I walked out of Angel's room, glad that she was sleeping soundly now. For hours I sat by Ange like Max had sat by me, comforting and trying to ease her pain. Every time she cried my heart broke in half again, turning it into a ball of mush in my chest. I didn't care how; I just knew that somebody would pay for this.

"How is she?" a shaky voice in the corner asked. Angel's father. I'd made him stay outside her room because he kept trying to get me to bring her to the hospital, which wouldn't have done anything except for get us a spot on the front page of the newspaper.

"She's asleep. You can see her, but don't move her or wake her up. If she does wake up, give her some pain meds. I'll be back in a little while." With that I went outside and back into the woods to take off.

I landed at Ian's house and walked up to the front door. When I knocked, his mom answered. She looked exactly the same as Ian, though with longer hair. But her face looked off. She didn't look as carefree as she normally did.

"Hey, Drew. Are you here to see Ian?" She smiled at me warmly, making any trace of worry disappear.

"Yeah, I am. Is he here?" something twisted in my gut.

"Sorry, but no. apparently he decided to go on some sort of road trip with some older friends from school." She rolled her eyes. _Ian doesn't have any older friends_… "He didn't even say bye to me. His mother! All he left was a stupid note on the fridge saying he wouldn't be back for a while and he would try to call." She shook her head.

"Do you mind if I see the note?" I asked. I had a really bad feeling.

"Sure, one sec." She disappeared for a second and came back with a tiny piece of paper. "Here it is."

I took it from her.

_Dear Mom,_

_I'm going on a road trip with a few of my older friends from school. Sorry about the short notice. I'll try to call as soon as I can, but I don't think we'll have any service where we're headed._

_Love, Ian_

Oh, great. Not only was Ian gone, but I noticed something else wrong. It wasn't his handwriting. I took a deep breath.

"Ok, well, thanks for showing me the note. I really should get going, I was just trying to see if Ian had a certain homework assignment I needed." I needed to get out of here. There was definitely something wrong.

"All right, then, Drew. I hope you find that homework assignment. Bye!" we waved bye to each other as I practically ran down the walkway.

Nikki. Gerik. Ian. All the same note. All gone. All taken. And I'm pretty sure I knew where they were.

**Sorry! I'm very, very sorry. I've had the craziest time, ever. Moving, new school, more homework, more friends, sports. You know it all. And, I've had some writer's block and didn't feel so good about writing lately. I know this isn't the best chapter ever, but I hope it satisfies everybody. Thanks for reading! Please review!**

**BoOk-NeRd38**


End file.
